Herman Cain's Next Steps

Tony Silva

As the Cain "sexual harassment" story unfolded, the charismatic candidate enjoyed almost universal support among the conservative commentocracy. He also faced unrelenting derision among GOP establishment commentators for the handling of this non-issue. His campaign can claim a small victory in the increased donations it received over the course of the first news cycle -- almost a million dollars in a few days.

The problem conservatives face this election cycle is the candidates who most reflect their values lack the skills and experience necessary to win elections. Michele Bachmann torpedoed her campaign from day one by selecting Ed Rollins as her campaign manager. He has since left, along with most of her staff in key states. Cain may have permanently damaged himself in the same way, selecting Mark Block as his key strategist. While it is clear Block has been effective in raising Cain's profile, what he lacks is the crisis management skills that are inevitably needed once a candidate achieves front runner status. Bachmann's assessment is right: Conservatives do not need to settle for the establishment pick. However, unless the anti-establishment choice can run a professional operation, neither Bachmann nor Cain can overcome the odds in Romney's favor; they can't stay at the head of the pack by merely blaming the media or other campaigns for every misstep.

Cain's next steps must be totally focused on building a professional campaign operation capable of rapidly responding to the attacks from both the media and opposing campaigns. Without that, he could not win against Obama even if he could overcome the Mitten Machine. His messaging team needs to get him beyond 9-9-9 and Aegis missile equipped ships to a broad based and well informed set of easy to grasp policy positions. He needs to surround himself with experienced and knowledgeable policy operatives in all areas -- foreign policy, national defense, domestic policy and a broader economic plan than his bold call for serious tax reform.

Before all of these steps, Cain needs to invest some of the money earned from the "sexual harassment" blow back in coaching to learn how to answer questions with the message he wants to communicate. Let Herman be Herman may be a key to putting him into front runner status. Let Herman be nuanced is the next step to making sure he maintains that status.