Political reporters had been abuzz today with talk that Herman Cain was going to endorse Newt Gingrich instead.
However, it looks like we’re in for a bit of a wait until we find out who’s going to earn the scandal-ridden pizza mogul’s nod of approval.
NBC News was apparently tipped off about a phone call the former candidate made this morning to the staff of his “suspended” campaign, and so they listened in. Here are the highlights:
On the subject of an endorsement, Cain was adamant that one would not be forthcoming anytime soon:
“I am not endorsing anybody today or in the very immediate future,” he said. “I can’t say I won’t endorse, but not in the immediate timeframe.”
But Cain added that he would eventually endorse. “It’s gonna happen, it’s gonna happen. I have a process in mind that I’m going to go through in order to determine who I could possibly endorsement… It won’t happen today. Most likely, it won’t happen this week. They can calm down about that expectation.”
He told his former staffers that he would probably write another book, and that he might do more work on TV and radio. This apparently prompted some angry questions about the suggestions that his entire campaign was conducted with the real goal of shifting copies of his hardback or getting himself a plum TV presenting spot. Cain denied these charges.
If there was any good news for the staff, it’s that he’s not quite going to let the campaign’s collapse totally ruin Christmas:
Financially, he said his campaign aims to pay his staff through the end of December, “so you can at least have a Merry Christmas and not worry about whether not you’re going to have a paycheck,” he said. “I didn’t want you to worry about what you were going to do over the holidays.”
