State of the Union 2012: Herman Cain to Give Tea Party Response

Herman Cain may no longer be a GOP presidential candidate, but he is certainly making his presence felt in the 2012 campaign season.

The former pizza restaurant mogul and one-time GOP primary frontrunner will deliver the Tea Party response to Tuesday's State of the Union address, fresh off the campaign stump in South Carolina for fake presidential candidate Stephen Colbert and giving his coveted endorsement to the American People.

Picking Cain is a bold move for the Tea Party Express when compared to Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, the Republican Party's somber and serious choice to deliver a rebuttal to President Barack Obama's speech.

Amy Kremer, chair of the Tea Party Express, which bills itself as the nation's largest Tea Party organization, said the group decided to go outside the beltway for its 2012 response.

As someone that has created jobs and thoroughly understands the issues that face our nation, Mr. Cain will provide a candid assessment of the state of our nation, while putting forth the bold solutions Americans demanded overwhelmingly during the Midterm elections, Kremer said in a statement.

Since Cain dropped out the GOP primary amid accusations of sexual harrassment and carrying on a long-term affair, he took his 9-9-9 plan on the road as part of his national Solutions Revolution bus tour.

Cain will deliver seven-minute State of the Union response at the National Press Club in Washington and streamed on the Tea Party Express' web site.

This is the Tea Party's second State of the Union response, following fellow ex-presidential contender Rep. Michele Bachmann. Unfortunately for the movement, the speech was most notable for Bachmann's failure to look directly at a camera from CNN, the only news outlet to air her response.

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