‘Morning Joe’ Elevates Jon Huntsman — But Not a Word About Herman Cain

It was a busy weekend for potential GOP Presidential candidates:

1. Mitch Daniels sent his regrets via email late Saturday night.
2. Tim Pawlenty made his candidacy official via the online ad that also took a few shots at President Obama.
3. In front of an enthusiastic, hometown crowd of 15,000+ Herman Cain made his announcement in an inspiring speech at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, GA.  (TheBlaze covered the announcement and the entire speech is also posted here.)

Most of this was not lost on the folks at MSNBC's Morning Joe.

The opening segment  of Monday's MoJoe (also replayed at 8am) was all about the newest GOP candidates. Well, almost all of them. The crew spent considerable time singing the praises of Jon Huntsman, questioning Mitch Daniels' midnight email, while completely ignoring the Cain announcement. Why? We present the clip so you can review for yourself.

(CONTENT WARNING: This clip contains the usual Mika eye-rolling, and NY Times financial writer Andrew Ross Sorkin being asked a question about Huntsman, but he thinks they are still talking about Tim Pawlenty.)

The journalists at MSNBC must have missed the latest data from the polls.  A Zogby survey taken earlier this month confirms viability of Herman Cain as a candidate:

Herman Cain trails only Chris Christie as the top choice among Republican primary voters in the race for the 2012 Presidential nomination. Mitt Romney ranks fourth, but voters see him as the most likely nominee by a wide margin over the rest of a 13-person field.

Gallup's polling data shows that Cain may not have the name recognition of the top three candidates, but those who do know him have a powerful response to a Mr. Cain.

So why why why, especially on the Monday following his announcement in front of a large and enthusiastic crowd, why is MSNBC blind to Herman Cain's candidacy? Playing the Race Card here would be easy. So I won't do it.