New poll shows Herman Cain as leading Republican presidential candidate

GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain, the former pizza chain executive, has surged into the top candidate tier in the blink of an eye. And now a new NBC/Wall Street Journal poll has him in first place nationally among potential Republican primary voters.

The Georgia businessman must have felt like a pinata at this week's GOP debate in New Hampshire, with the candidates ganging up on him and this "9-9-9" tax plan. But the criticism doesn't seem to be sticking. He's surging while Mitt Romney treads water and Rick Perry plunges. In the latest NBC/Wall Street Journal poll, Cain is the republican front runner with 27% of the vote, four points better than Romney.

Roll Call's Shira Toeplitz talks to American Morning on whether Herman Cain can sustain the election season as a frontrunner.