Cain Train went from silver bullet to train wreck

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – Former pizza magnate Herman  Cain’s bid for the White House was an unconventional long shot  from the start, but behind the colorful Cain Train a  dysfunctional team has always been on the verge of running off  the tracks.
The slow-motion train wreck ground to a halt today  when Cain announced that he would suspend his campaign.
The breaking point was an allegation by Atlanta  businesswoman Ginger White this week that she had engaged in a  13-year affair with the candidate.
Cain’s presidential bid unraveled in public as women  complained of sexual harassment, he forgot U.S. policy in Libya  in a video interview and confused the language spoken in Cuba.
But there was also chaos behind the scene where his staff  ran a free-wheeling show that seemed part book tour, part  circus.
A former campaign official told Reuters that Cain was beset  by scheduling mishaps, profligate spending on private jets and  an entourage of handlers along for the ride.
“The people who Cain placed his full faith and confidence  to counsel him are guilty of political malpractice,” the former  official said. “Campaign and crisis management pros will be  dissecting this catastrophe for decades.”
As the campaign staggered under the harassment allegations  in November, Cain announced on a conference call that he was  demoting chief of staff Mark Block but that decision was  reversed within a few hours without explanation.
Campaign appearances were often badly planned:  book-signings in Tennessee and a visit to a Texas dog-racing  track rather than time in a key early voting state like Iowa,  where Cain was absent for much of September and October.
The Cain team knew for 10 days that news website Politico  was going to publish the first story on sexual harassment  allegations against Cain, but did nothing to try to head off  the media storm about to erupt.
No-one coached the candidate on the symbolic importance of  filing paperwork in person for New Hampshire’s “first in the  nation” primary election.
A visit to the office of secretary of state in Concord to  sign official papers is a time-honored tradition in New  Hampshire. The walls of the statehouse gift shop are thick with  photos, buttons and other memorabilia from decades of winning,  losing and long-forgotten presidential campaigns.
But instead of visiting, the Cain camp mailed in his  paperwork, losing free publicity and a place in history.
“SMOKING GUY”
The self-styled Cain Train was on a roll in early autumn.  Support in national polls surged from about 4 percent at the  start of September to 26 percent in late October, when Cain for  a few weeks reached front-runner status.
Cain’s affability and impressive life story was a plus for  potential voters, and his simple message of economic revival,  built around the catchy “9-9-9” tax plan, caught on during a  series of televised debates.
But the sexual harassment allegations sowed doubts in  voters’ minds and exposed failings in his team.
At the center of much of the campaign confusion was chief  of staff Block, an old Cain friend who became known as the  “smoking guy” in a strange campaign commercial that became an  Internet sensation.
Block appeared at the end of the ad, staring into the  camera and drawing on a cigarette. To some viewers the clip  seemed quirky and individualistic; to others, just weird.
Block, who was once banned from campaign work after  allegations of election law violations in Wisconsin, worked in  the past for Americans for Prosperity, and was a connection to  the conservative heavyweight funders David and Charles Koch.
As Cain’s campaign stumbled into November, Cain tried  unsuccessfully to demote Block.
The former Cain campaign official said Cain made the move  to relieve Block of his day-to-day duties on Nov. 13, on a  Sunday night strategy call.
Cain twice told his staff on the call that Block would be  moved from chief of staff to senior campaign strategist as he  changed to a management model of three vice presidents.
But when a press release came out Monday morning to  announce the changes, Block was listed as both “chief political  strategist and chief of staff.”
Far from being demoted, Block kept his role and earned a  fancier title overnight, in circumstances that are still  unclear.
After the smoking ad briefly made Block well known in the  political world, he asked his staff to inquire about securing  him a live spot on NBC’S comedy show “Saturday Night Live”  where he could self-parody the ad, the former campaign official  said.
Once Cain surged to the top of the polls in the early fall,  his campaign began to burn through the $9.4 million  third-quarter fund-raising haul that legitimized Cain as a  contender for the nomination.
Cain’s camp rented a G4 private plane to accommodate the  candidate’s entourage that included Block, spokesman J.D.  Gordon, a videographer and two historians Cain was paying to  document his campaign for a book, according to the former  official.
Republican strategist Ron Christie, a fellow at Harvard  University’s Institute of Politics, said that Cain’s campaign  was never built to last.
“In the end, he had neither the organization nor the  discipline to mount a legitimate presidential bid,” Christie  said. “It just reeked of ‘not ready for primetime.'”