I don’t think Cain is a great candidate either.
In fact, he has very little to recommend him for President.
For some reason, he caught the fancy of conservatives, many of them disappointed Palin supporters.
From there he moved on to becoming a cult figure with a lot of creepy worshippers. They defended him by attacking other candidates, not on his particular merits.
I believe and hope that Cain has peaked and that people will come down to earth and realize that he is not a good candidate for us.
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.