Herman Cain Turns Heads at First Republican Presidential Debate

HERMAN CAIN, FORMER RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: The immigration issue in America is not one problem. It's four problems. It's securing the border, enforcing the laws that are there, promoting the path to citizenship that we already have. We don't need a new path. We've got to clean up the bureaucracy in the process. And then number four, this is where I believe you empower the states to do what the federal government cannot and is not doing.
So, no, Arizona did not go too far. They were simply trying to protect themselve
SEAN HANNITY, HOST: And that was radio talk show host Herman Cain speaking at tonight's GOP primary debate.
Welcome back to the special post-debate edition of "Hannity." And joining me now is Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain.
How are you, sir?
CAIN: Hello, Sean. Thanks. Happy to be here.
HANNITY: I got to tell you, we just did a -- we just did a Frank Luntz focus group. And you may not like the first part. The first part was there was only one person that came in to the debate --
CAIN: Yes. Right.
HANNITY: Supporting you.
CAIN: Right.
HANNITY: And then more than half the crowd afterwards support you.
CAIN: Do you think it was my hairdo?
(LAUGHTER)
CAIN: Well, you got --
HANNITY: Something like that.
(LAUGHTER)
HANNITY: Yes.
CAIN: Maybe it was my haircut. You know, that is very, very exhilarating because what I've found in traveling around for the past several months is that a lot of people who haven't her of me, as soon as they hear me and I spend some time with them talking about my common sense solutions, you know, a lot people --
HANNITY: I think the ones who knew you, when you filled in on my radio show.
CAIN: Absolutely.
HANNITY: Yes.
CAIN: That one person who listened to your radio show.
HANNITY: One person?
(LAUGHTER)
CAIN: No, I got to tell you. I have gotten more comments from people who said that they first heard me on your radio show. Even more than Boortz. Now he doesn't like that.
HANNITY: Don't tell him that. No, no, no. Don't tell him that.
CAIN: But when I substituted for you, really, a lot of people. Even as I travel today in Iowa, New Hampshire. And even here in South Carolina. But I got to tell you, it does make me feel good that a lot of people walked into that room not knowing who I was, but I said enough to cause them to say you know, I need to take a look at this Herman Cain guy.
HANNITY: You know, it was interesting because when they were going through the questions or -- the questions or the challenges that each candidate will face.
CAIN: Yes.
HANNITY: You've never held elective office.
CAIN: Right.
HANNITY: You say that's a benefit.
CAIN: I said I'm proud that I've never held public office. And for people who missed it, I said most of the people in Washington, D.C. have, how is that working out for us? We've got a mess.
And I said to Chris Wallace later, I said, Chris, I said you had a tough time digging up stuff on me. He said yes, because you've never held public office.

Oil rally is brief; prices head lower, reviving hopes for lower gas prices

A one-day crash in crude oil prices was followed Friday by a brief rally, then renewed selling, which kept futures prices for light, sweet crude below $100 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Friday afternoon in New York, crude had shed another $2.50 a barrel from Thursday's drop, falling to $97.22.

After tanking Thursday, commodities prices, including oil, headed back up early Friday, following a U.S. job growth report that showed the economy stronger than many thought. And a stronger economy means higher demand for fuel.

Oil sank Thursday after a weak U.S. report on new claims for unemployment benefits. West Texas Intermediate crude plunged 9% to $99.80 a barrel, raising hopes that the soaring price of gasoline had finally peaked.

Thursday was the first time oil had closed below $100 since mid-March.

"If these price levels stick, it's great news for the consumer and it could mean we've seen the highs for 2011," said Peter Beutel, president of energy risk manager Cameron Hanover. "There's a 20% to 25% chance we've seen the high for the year."

Oil futures prices

Crude oil, dollars per barrel, five trading days.

But Beutel and others said it was unclear whether the sell-off was more than a blip. Gas prices at the pump rose for 44 straight days until Friday, when they stayed basically flat at $3.984 a gallon on average, according to AAA. That's more than $1.05 higher than a year ago.

"Clearly, the falling price of crude oil is good news, although it's too early to say that we've turned the tide," says Nigel Gault, chief economist for IHS Global Insight. "If this sticks, it's worth about 20 cents off the price at the pump."

Even if crude oil prices stabilized at Thursday's levels, consumers wouldn't see any immediate effect.

"Crude would have to stay around $100 for five to 10 days before we see gas prices come down," says Darin Newsom, senior analyst at energy trader DTN. He expects seasonal demand to lift prices to as much as $4.20 a gallon, surpassing July 2008's $4.11 record.

"Maybe (Thursday's sell-off ) puts the brakes on the big increases we've been seeing. We'll hold here for a while until the market figures out what signals (traders) were giving us today," Newsom says.

Crude oil peaked this year at $113.93 a barrel on April 29. It's all-time high is $147.27 in July 2008.

Thursday's plunge was part of a broader selloff of silver, gold and other commodities, which also pushed prices down on Wall Street. The dollar also rose, which helped push oil prices lower.

All that changed Friday, when the April jobs report raised the prospect of a steady U.S. economy.

Anthony Sabino, a former energy industry executive who teaches business at St. John's University in New York, expects little relief soon, with gas prices ranging from $4.10 to $4.25 through Labor Day.

"We may be near the peak with respect to prices," Sabino says, "but there's no great wave of relief for consumers."