I’m not looking for a savior, just somebody who will save us from the “saviors.”
I think the big “turning point” was the Milwaukee editorial board interview. Cain just brain-farted it and looked totally lost. THAT (IMHO) was the incident when inertia took over and the comments of “not ready for prime time” started to snowball.
Much like what Palin discovered, to become POTUS is a long, sticky, and stinky process. You need to get a lot of ducks in a row, have an infrastructure, play the game and have some luck in the process. Just to get to the point of saying “I’m running” is a long quest within itself. Many candidates in the past had to spend a lot of “background” work kissing babies, making speeches, meet-and-greets, meeting local leaders and eating a lot of rubber chicken dinners.