Cain's appeal is largely due to the other candidates in the race. Romney will be hard pressed to ever have Conservative backing. Perry (and I do respect your support for him) has repeatedly damaged himself with poor debate performances and his continued emphases supporting a position that angers Conservatives. Gingrich is still a possibility if he can make people forget about some of his past actions and statements. Looking at the rest of the field, I don't see anyone gaining any traction.
It's amazing that a Republican Party that claims to represent Conservative values (perhaps falsely so), which could have such an easy path to regaining the White House in 2012, is in the process of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. As one who is still unhappy with all of my choices, I remain in the “hoping for the best” camp.
You may be right about Cain’s support not being that deep and you are definitely right about him being the choice of a lot of people who just weren’t attracted by the other candidates.
One shouldn’t judge the world by Free Republic, though it’s kinda tempting if you spend a lot of time here.
The Cain supporters on this site certainly appear to be excessively devoted to the guy and very defensive about any criticism of him.
Fortunately, I really like Perry and think he would make an excellent president, but he has my support but it’s not fanatical as some of the Cain support seems to be.