...and the winner is Herman Cain. As I told you, last night a small portion of the lesser-known Republican presidential candidates gave speeches at an Iowa forum. Almost every writeup of the event declares Herman Cain to be the biggest surprise of the night, although Buddy Roemer's fire-and-brimstone preacher schtick drew some praise, too. (Newt Gingrich, who was by far the biggest name in attendance, spoke directly after Cain and announced he was going to "steal as much of Cain’s material as he could," according to the Des Moines Register.) Gingrich's hottest talking point was saying that the president should not be allowed to appoint czars (which is not very Reaganesque of him), but he talked about morality, too, and according to Politico, that fell flat with many in attendance:

“I'm not so sure that one of the candidates should speak about morals since his weren't that great," sniffed Joel Best, 74, of Norwalk, a clear reference to Gingrich's three marriage, two divorces, and admitted affairs.

Cain's prominence probably isn't surprising, since he comes from a radio background. (Well, to be fair, he comes from a pizza background, being a former CEO of Godfather's Pizza. Then he became a radio host. So he kind of majored in pizza, with a minor in communication.) Aaron Blake over at The Washington Post has already listed a few of the reasons why a Cain candidacy won't take off, but if he lives in Iowa for the next year or so, and works together a killer stump speech, Cain could become a prominent figure in the campaign.