Herman Cain (photo by Tom Dotan/Neon Tommy)

According to The Washington Post:

People enter and exit the ballroom here to the extent that they are interested in who’s on-stage.

When Michele Bachmann and Rick Perry spoke, for example, there were big crowds. Same goes for House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

But none of them – repeat, none of them – compares to the crowd Cain is drawing.

According to The Fix, there were so many people in the room that it was actually hard to see even the see stage where Cain was set to address the crowd of conservative conference-goers.

NBC's First Read has more on the "Cain Train's" welcome reception:

Wild applause for talk of "gutter politics," flat taxes, and "stupid people who are ruining America."

Time to party like it's 9-9-9.

Former presidential candidate and current rock-star-reception recipient  Herman Cain addressed a packed hotel ballroom at the conservative CPAC conference Thursday, encouraging the audience to back his famed 9-9-9 plan and explaining his rationale for exiting the 2012 contest.

He began his speech by taking what's become a popular shot against Obama by Republicans: his use of teleprompters. "Just so that there is no confusion, these teleprompters are not for me," he said. "I don't do teleprompters."

NewsOK reported:

An invigorated Herman Cain told a rowdy crowd of conservatives on Thursday that Republicans must "outsmart the stupid people that are trying to ruin America."

"We must outsmart the liberals," Cain said, addressing the Conservative Political Action Conference at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel in D.C. "We outnumber the stupid people. Trust me, I counted 'em."

Cain then directed the crowd to his website, CainConnections.org, where he told them they could find the facts they needed to defeat President Obama in the November general election.

"Stay informed, stay involved and thirdly, stay inspired," he said. "See, the liberals want you to believe that we can't do this."

The former CEO of Godfather's Pizza also explained why he dropped out of the GOP race before the first caucuses in Iowa. According to CNN : "Cain said he quit the presidential race because of 'gutter politics' and because he 'chose to put family first.'"

Cain, the former Godfather's Pizza CEO, dropped out of the race in December following a series of sexual harassment allegations.

The speech was also noteworthy for Cain's unconventional endorsement - Joe Wurzelbacher, better known as "Joe the Plummer" (of the 2008 election fame). The Huffington Post has more:

"I'm happy that one of the people that's running for United States Congress in the state of Ohio - in a very challenging district - has adopted the 9-9-9 plan," Cain said at the Conservative Political Action Conference, asking his "friend Joe" to stand up and be recognized.

"you see, some of us choose to get off the sidelines, and I admire Joe for doing that," Cain said. "Yes, he's going to get attacked, yes, they're going to try to do the same thing to him that they did to me, but folks, more of us have got to take that challenge."

Wurzelbacher is a big fan of Cain. The Daily Beast reported in January that Wurzelbacher considered Cain a mentor and wished he was still in the race. 

And for those worried Cain was going anywhere, he wanted to ensured the audience that he is here to stay. "A lot of people thought that after the character assassination that was launched against me, that Herman was going to shut up and sit down and go away," he said. "Ain't gonna happen."