Will one or more sexual harassment settlements and alleged illegal campaign funding hurt Herman Cain’s campaign to be the Republican Presidential nominee?
No, says Jonathan Chait – because Herman Cain isn’t actually running for President:
There are certain things you do when you run for president. You try to raise a lot of money. Cain is not doing that. If you can’t raise a lot of money, you campaign heavily in early primary states, trying to get some early success that can snowball into later primaries. Cain isn’t doing that, either. You hire a staff of political operatives. You at least pretend to know something about world affairs. You try to attract as many people as possible to your events. Cain, by contrast, frequently charges admission.
So if he’s not running for President, why is Herman Cain on my teevee and Twitterz all the time?
Cain is executing a business plan. It’s an excellent plan. The plan involves Cain raising his profile as a conservative personality, which he can monetize through motivational speaking, book sales, talk shows, and other media.
As always with Chait, the whole thing is worth reading.
