Can Herman Cain pull off an upset?

VIDEO - A new Gallop poll shows Cain is 1 percent behind Newt Gingrich at 8 percent. What's interesting about the poll is 24 percent pick him as their first choice candidate -- more than any other GOP candidate...

Does Herman Cain have a chance at the GOP 2012 nomination? MSNBC’s The Power Panel: political commentator Sam Seder, blogger and writer Richard Eskow, and conservative blogger and writer Matt Lewis discuss his possible candidacy.

A new Gallop poll shows Cain is 1 percent behind Newt Gingrich at 8 percent. What’s interesting about the poll is 24 percent pick him as their first choice candidate — more than any other GOP candidate.

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“With this field, it seems completely wide open,” Seder said. “Most are raising money for a book tour or some type of reality show, so yeah… he certainly has the ability to pull all the other candidates in.”

According to Lewis, aside from Cain being a great communicator, he was a mathematician for the Navy department and was the chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City.

“The guy has a great business background, he is the real deal,” Lewis said. “If he doesn’t win the nomination I could see Mitt Romney picking him, for example, as vice president.”

In recent news, not knowing what the Palestinian right of return is questioned if Cain could be president.

Eskow said it is too early to call him a serious candidate.

“I do know he’s run a mean-spirited and hard right campaign, and let’s face it, I think there’s a certainly element of race in this factor,” Eskow said. “I don’t know how well he’s going to do in the long run.”

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