Is this his ‘dial it back’ strategy?
Yeah, I heard about that. I'm sure there's a memo floating around somewhere that someone didn't get, but this doesn't look at all dialed back to me. :)
I think that refers to a sense that he needs to get more rest and continue to be laser-like in his focus. Losing sleep and a breakneck schedule are a recipe for disaster in unforced errors. He can't afford at this critical juncture to appear to be uninformed or impulsive and some of the sleepy headed comments he's made seem exactly that.
The elite establishment and their lapdogs in the MSM are just waiting to pounce. Once they lock on to something that will resonate negatively they will grind it until he's forced out of the race. Remember the initially innocuous "DEAN SCREAM?" That was a nothing sound byte but once it took, Howard Dean was toast. That's the kind of thing he has to avoid.
I doubt that Mr. Cain's a "screamer" but all he needs is one little comment in the same vein and they'll grind him into the dust. Dial back? Naaaah. But he needs his rest and his focus to avoid a misstep because TPTB won't let him escape, once he falls into the spider's web.