Businessman Herman Cain is at the top of the national polls in the GOP primary right now. But if you are a staffer that wants to discuss keeping that fragile lead, you’re out of luck — Mr. Cain doesn’t want you to speak to him until you are spoken to.
That according to a campaign memo obtained by the New York Times, which highlighted a series of campaign issues for Cain in an article that used interviews with a number of ex-Cain staff. The piece essentially draws out the fact that Cain’s rise in the polls is almost all about his personal appeal, which that comes through in media interviews and debate performances.
But as far as the other things you need for a campaign — really experienced staff, strong fundraising abilities and a good ground game — well, that’s just not there. And then the campaign advised staff that they were not to speak to Mr. Cain until spoken to when in the car with him.
And then there was that e-mail to the staff about traveling in a car with Mr. Cain: “Do not speak to him unless you are spoken to,” the memo said.
“I found it odd,” said a former staff member who liked to prep Mr. Cain for appearances while driving. The aide, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, quit not long afterward, citing the e-mail as one of the deciding factors.
However, while that direction was just a bit weird, the Times cited the email as one small piece of a theme — that Cain himself is not ready for prime time.
But interviews with Mr. Cain’s former staff members, volunteers and supporters give a glimpse of a candidate who appeared to show ambivalence toward basic campaign management, which led to problems in hiring, scheduling, fund-raising and messaging.
Together, these problems are at odds with a central theme of his candidacy. Because Mr. Cain does not have a legislative or political track record, his campaign rests heavily on the contention that he would bring proven, executive-level expertise from the business world to the White House…..
In the end, it seemed that the animosity between the staff and the candidate, as the Times quoted on particularly jilted ex-operative: “Everything we tried to do was like pulling teeth to get accomplished,” said a former staff member in Iowa, who asked for anonymity. “I’ve never been involved in a job that was as frustrating as this one. We couldn’t get an answer on anything. Everything was fly by the seat of your pants.”
