Cain’s bump is not a sputtering start like Perry’s was. It seems to be gainins steam, while his is having a difficult time keeping the RPM’s up.
And Romney is just hoping the rest of the field just bows out and lets him has “his turn”, i.e. Dole III.
This Cain thing is kinda wierd. Nobody is bringing up any fatal problems with his candidacy, other than a lack of money which will be forthcoming once he is seen as electable, which seems to be happening.
Cain reported yesterday (on MTP) that he has already received over $2m over the past two weeks. This is in addition to the $1.3m he reported having on hand as of Sep 30. So I think the money situation is going to improve very quickly. On top of that, having been a businessman most of his life, Cain will spend that money very wisely and effectively.
The only potential "fatal flaw" I see in Cain is his flippant and off-the-cuff remarks to tough questioning. It appeals to me but I can see where his political enemies might be lying in wait for that "gotcha" moment. So long as Cain can keep in mind he is a presidential candidate and no longer a radio talk show host, he should be okay.
Well it is entirely possible that all the candidates unite against Cain in the attempt to throw this to Romney at the last minute. But some of these folks will have to drop out early, and if you didn’t love Perry or Romney by now, you won’t when your guy or gal drops out. It all depends on how many delegates each person has and how far they go to get them.
I don’t think the party could withstand that kind of crap, though. The Democrats did that to Hillary - they literally took her delegates away from her by changing the rules ex post facto. It almost destroyed the party if Hillary didn’t take the SS position it might have. On the right, with the advent of the TEA Party, there is no way the TEA Party would stay loyal to the GOP if Cain had 45% of the delegates and lost because the hacks united to throw their delegates to Romney.
I think there is sense to a Cain/Newt ticket, with Newt being there to give Gravitas to Cain’s ideas and of course to help the Executive work with Congress. There are few people how to work Congress and Newt is one of the few. I know he is not desired by most social conservatives, there is merit to the idea of this ticket because it help negate the biggest problem Cain faces - lack of experience in politics. And that is what could save the day in the end, both for the nomination and for the White House.