Richard A. Viguerie, the Chairman of ConservativeHQ.com, along with conservative activists Bill Wichterman and Rebecca Hagelin, hosted a luncheon and hour-long question and answer period for 90 national conservative leaders at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Washington, D.C.

“Four weeks ago, a large group of national conservative leaders met in Texas and came to the consensus that we should back Rick Santorum’s campaign for President,” noted Viguerie. “With relatively few resources, but lots of grassroots conservative support, Rick went on to win the Republican contests in Minnesota, Missouri, and Colorado,” observed Viguerie.

“Today’s meeting will build more grassroots conservative momentum behind Rick’s campaign.” “Rick Santorum is the only reliable conservative left in the race.  Whatever others may say, no other candidate can be counted on to populate his administration with conservatives the way Santorum can be.  No other candidate can be depended upon to govern as a conservative the way Santorum can be,” said Viguerie.

Santorum’s unscripted remarks at the luncheon focused on his commitment to the conservative agenda, the importance of the conservative movement in winning the 2012 election, and the important role conservatives will play in a Santorum administration. “Conservative principles are the things that win elections,” said Santorum, who also noted, “Conservatives aren’t merely a wing of the Republican Party–they are the Republican Party.”

Santorum’s biggest applause came when, in a not-so-subtle reference to Mitt Romney, he promised the conservative leaders that, if elected, he “would not walk away from the conservative message. It is who I am.  I do what I do from the heart, not because some consultant or focus group tells me this is what to do or what to say.”

“Rick Santorum is no stranger to the conservative movement.  We know Rick Santorum.  He walks with us, eats with us, and prays with us. He has celebrated our victories and mourned our losses,” concluded Viguerie.

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Herman Cain’s 9/9/9 plan has been favorable among American’s based on his growing support in polls, but certainly could have gone without the criticism from the other GOP candidates in Tuesday’s debate at Dartmouth.

Herman Cain mentioned in the debate hosted by Bloomberg and The Washington Post, that the solution to the economic difficulties facing the country would be solved by his 9/9/9 plan. This would throw out the current tax code and add a 9% flat corporate tax, 9% income tax, and a 9% national sales tax.

With this plan came questions from all sides; fortunately Cain had answers to all of them. Rick Santorum, the former senator of Pennsylvania, laid out his plan during the debate to solve the economic crisis. His plan to boost the economy focused around increases in manufacturing, by reducing the current corporate tax from 35% to 0% for manufacturers and processors.

Santorum implied that his bill for economic growth would pass over Herman Cain’s 9/9/9 plan stating, “The cool thing about my plan as opposed to Herman’s plan and some of the other plans out there is that it will pass and it will pass tomorrow.”

Santorum continued on pointing out the faults in Cain’s plan by asking the audience, “how many people here are for a sales tax in New Hampshire? Raise your hand,” and “How many people believe that we’ll keep the income tax at 9 percent? Anybody?”

Jon Huntsman, another candidate and former governor of Utah, also mentioned his plan to spur economic growth, mentioning a tax reform himself. Huntsman has already added a flat tax in the state of Utah, which has previously shown to boost jobs and make his state a leading one in job creation.

Although familiar with tax reform, Huntsman thought that even though Cain’s 9/9/9 plan was a catchy phrase; it may not work in practice. Huntsman states, “I thought it was a price of a pizza when I first heard it.” He also thought that unlike Cain’s plan, his own plan was actually one that’s “doable, doable, doable. And what I have put forward is a tax program that is doable.”

Herman Cain did not back down without a fight. Cain’s response to both Huntsman and Santorum was that, “9/9/9 will pass and it is not the price of a pizza, because it has been well studied and well developed.” He continued on saying, “It will pass because the American people want it to pass.”

Julianna Goldman of Bloomberg confronted Cain asking, “Bloomberg Government has run the numbers and your plan would have raised no more than 2 trillion dollars and even with that short fall you’d still be slapping a 9% sales tax on food and medicine.” Cain responded, “The problem with that analysis is that it is incorrect.”

Michele Bachmann chimed in with her view on the 9/9/9 plan saying, “When you take the 9/9/9 plan and you turn it upside down you see the devil in the details.” Other economic plans for the country include Rick Perry’s plan to put 1.2$ Americans working in the energy industry and plans to lay out his plan within the next few days. Mitt Romney has his “59” point plan which he discussed in the debate as well.

Hopefully Herman Cain will keep his growing support even after taking hits from many candidates. With his strong responses and standing by his 9/9/9 plan, he could continue to stay in the lead.

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New Jersey Governor Chris Christie announced Tuesday that he will not run in the presidential race in 2012. Christie declared his love for his job as Governor: “I’m doing a job that I love in the state I grew up in. In the end, what I always felt was the right decision remains the right decision today — now is not my time.”

Christie said the reason he has made the definitive decision not to run for president is because he feels he is not ready to leave his position as Governor of New Jersey after only 20 months on the job. Christie said he had taken to heart the appeals of influential Republicans and the American public to reconsider an 11th-hour campaign but there is still a lot of work to do with New Jersey adding “my job here isn’t done”.

He said he has a commitment to New Jersey that he simply will not abandon. Christie said he made his decision on Monday evening after spending the weekend with his family and had no communication from his ‘folks’. He said he gathered all the available information and thought about what was right for him and for the state of New Jersey.

Former New Jersey Governor Tom Kean, speaking on Monday 3rd said “I know he’s getting advice from all sides.” He added that Christie will make clear soon whether he’s changed his mind stating: “he’s not going to tease anybody”. Back in April this year, Christie told ABC he was categorically not running for president. “You don’t make a decision to run for president of the United States based on impulse.

I don’t feel ready in my heart to be president. Unless I do, I don’t have any right offering myself to the people of this country. It’s much too big a job. And so you have to first feel in your heart that you’re ready and that you want it more than anything else.” Christie was pursued to reconsider by influential Republican donors as well as a handful of elected officials and party activists in vital states.

Reuters reported the only potential candidate left who could make a major impact on the race is former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, who is still considering it. She did however state last week the title of president might “shackle” her. Christie’s decision is the last major candidate to fall in the Republican race. There are discussions if he may run for Vice-president instead of the presidential race.

In the words of Christie “So, New Jersey, whether you like it or not, you’re stuck with me.”

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Do you remember Herman Cain? He is one of the many fringe Republican candidates who are pretending to run for the GOP presidential nomination. The former Godfather Pizza CEO is known for his controversial statements. He is not going to stop making outlandish claims just because he is running for president.

Last week, Cain criticized the planned mosque in Tennessee. “This is just another way to try to gradually sneak Sharia law into our laws, and I absolutely object to that,” Cain told reporters. “This isn’t an innocent mosque,” Cain said.

On Sunday, Cain was asked by Chris Wallace about that comment. He elaborated and stated he believes that Americans should be able to ban Muslims from building mosques in their communities. And I really think he was serious.

“Our Constitution guarantees the separation of church and state,” Cain said in an interview with “Fox News Sunday.” “Islam combines church and state. They’re using the church part of our First Amendment to infuse their morals in that community, and the people of that community do not like it. They disagree with it.”

“Let’s go back to the fundamental issue,” Cain said. “Islam is both a religion and a set of laws — Sharia laws. That’s the difference between any one of our traditional religions where it’s just about religious purposes.”

“So, you’re saying that any community, if they want to ban a mosque…” Wallace began.

“Yes, they have the right to do that,” Cain said.

On Sunday, Cain defended his past comments about not allowing Muslims to serve in his administration, telling Wallace that it’s not discrimination.

“Aren’t you willing to restrict people because of their religion?” Wallace asked.

“I’m willing to take a harder look at people who might be terrorists, that’s what I’m saying,” Cain replied. “Look, I know that there’s a peaceful group of Muslims in this country. God bless them and they’re free to worship. If you look at my career I have never discriminated against anybody, because of their religion, sex or origin or anything like that.”

“I’m simply saying I owe it to the American people to be cautious because terrorists are trying to kill us,” Cain said, “so yes I’m going to err on the side of caution rather than on the side of carelessness.”

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