I sat in tonight on Herman Cain‘s blogger conference call tonight. It began with the bloggers introducing themselves and Mr. Cain wishing a happy birthday to Jimmie from the Sundries Shack. I’ll cross my fingers and hope I get a birthday wish from the man this summer.

This was then followed up by Ms. Ellen Carmichael giving a summary of where their organization is at the moment. Mr. Cain has been in 10 states, gave 12 speeches, over the course of 8 days. They have been garnering more national attention and has recently been in New Hampshire. Mr. Cain then began to talk about recent events. First, he told us that they’ve held a number of home parties – including one this evening with Mr. Ovide Lamontagne. Who’s that? The man who came in 2nd place in the US Senate primary in 2010 in New Hampshire and a Tea Party favorite who’s been building up a powerful base of support / organizational structure in New Hampshire.

Cain then began to talk about the reactions he’s been getting. The reactions? Have been positive and people are frustrated with the current administration, they’re frustrated with Obama stating that he wants to become Brazil’s best customer if they off-shore drill. Cain said, “America better become its own best customer…” regarding energy independence and that “…people are sick and tired of ignoring the resources we have here.” He says that the people he’s talking to feel as though the budget plan offered little to no progress and are excited about the Ryan plan. He also said that people are liking the idea of seeing a business approach used to address our current issues. Cain said that people are looking for a problem solver. As he moves forward in deciding whether to run or not (a decision he said is weeks, not months away), he have only been encouraged by the people he’s been meeting.

After that, Cain opened the floor for questions from the bloggers on the call. Here’s some other choice quotes from his responses:

“We can solve our social security system problem, we just need the right leadership.”

“Nobody else, no other candidate is going to out work me.”

Regarding energy independence / oil prices: “It’s as simple as that…supply and demand. If we don’t get serious about contributing to the supply side, we are always going to be the ones on the short end of the stick when it comes to demand.”

Regarding small donations: “Every dollar is a big impact.”

To the youth of America: “Don’t stay on the sidelines because when you become a productive adult, there may not be any sidelines.”

Regarding the EPA, Government Regulations: “We have gone regulatory crazy…We need some regulations, but we don’t need to have regulatory gridlock like we have now.”

Cain also said that he’d like to do a detailed assessment with the heads of all the federal departments. He said that we need to drill down each of the agencies within the government and identify whole programs to eliminate. He promises to identify overlapping / duplicate programs. He said that he would be directly involved in what whole programs need to be cut.

When asked more explicitly about the EPA / Department of Education, he first said that he’d unbundle the Department of Education. He’d start by looking at programs that are unfunded mandates; any unfunded mandate on the states, he wants to unravel it and if they can’t be unravel it…they would be eliminated. He would want input from the states because he wants the department to interact with the states appropriately.

Cain referred to the EPA as the most abusive agency in Washington, DC, hindering economic growth and government resources. Cain said he would create a regulatory reduction commission with a focus on the EPA and specifically look for people who had been abused by the EPA to help find ways to reform it.

The birthday boy got the last question. He asked about Haley Barbour and if Mr. Cain would be seeking him out for help. His answer? Yes. He knew Barbour from his days in the National Restaurant Owner’s Association and respects him / would seek his advice.

It was a pretty Cain friendly crowd, so the event was very amicable. That said, it was a very informative event and Mr. Cain was open, honest, and ready to answer whatever we asked. It was refreshing and fun to participate in and I’d be more than happy to do so again.

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-Matt Newman is a conservative blogger from Maryland who blogs at Old Line Elephant and Tweets far too often.