The data points are good enough that Democrats have noticed: The Democratic National Committee began the process of conducting rapid response to his campaign last week.

“Herman Cain is for real and is making a bunch of established pols look weak to ridiculous,” a top party strategist emailed the Huffington Post on Tuesday night. “[Tim Pawlenty] has banked his whole shot on Iowa and is getting beat by…Herman Cain? Romney’s ahead – so what’s Romney’s excuse for all but bypassing Iowa altogether?”

The numbers also have given Cain some room for a bit of gloating, as he argued that his grassroots support mitigated the need to raise copious amounts of campaign funds.