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Cain cancels Ohio signature collection event Wednesday

By: Paula Bolyard (Diary)  |  November 29th, 2011 at 02:34 PM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

“Meet Herman Cain, scheduled to occur on Wednesday, November 30, 2011 6:30 PM has been cancelled. Please update your plans accordingly. We are advised that there will be a press release from the Cain campaign tomorrow about this.”

While Cain is publicly saying he will “reassess” his campaign, this cancellation gives us a strong indication that his campaign may be over. As I wrote in a diary posted early today, Ohio’s primary elections are a mess and the Ohio Secretary of state recently issued an advisory saying that candidates must file their declarations of intent by December 7th. This has left several campaigns, including Cain’s, scrambling to collect the required signatures by next week. A local 912 group had sent out an email invitation to a meet and greet with Cain, scheduled for tomorrow:

“Due to recent election rule changes we have a very limited time to get the necessary signatures for the Senate and Presidential candidates to get on the ballot for 2012. This is a recent and surprising outcome from the challenges to the Congressional map. It is urgent that you take the time to help get this done.”

Unless the Cain camp has somehow managed to collect his signatures without much of an effort in Ohio, this cancellation is a signal that he is wrapping up his campaign. The December 7th deadline is not something a candidate cancels because he’s having a bad week. Missing a hard deadline in a swing state like Ohio is a very bad sign for Cain’s campaign.

Less important, (but disappointing to my son and other students, I’m sure) he also canceled a speech he was scheduled to give at Hillsdale College tonight. The topic was (somewhat ironically) to be “Security Begins at Home: Peace and Strength through Clarity.”

CORRECTION:  As of 4:00 PM Cain’s foreign policy speech at Hillsdale College (sponsored by SIFE) is still on for tonight. Chris Wallace reported earlier on Fox News that Cain had cancelled a foreign policy speech scheduled in Michigan tonight. I assumed it was the Hillsdale speech, but perhaps he had another speech scheduled.

COMMENTS

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  • expanding_man

    Like many others who flirted with the idea of being nominated by the GOP, he’s flaming out. Never had the base, money or organization to be a real candidate. This guy’s demonstrated knowledge on foreign policy issues was appalling. His 9-9-9 was a soundbite or gimmick instead of a well thought out tax policy. The fact that it was the womanizing allegations that really took him down as opposed to the fact that he is not up to (or serious about) the job speaks poorly of voters.

    • lucasblack

      I think he was already going down thanks to his lack of depth on the issues. This woman thing was just the last nail in the coffin.

  • carolina

    I’m sorry he is the first to leave, but agree that it was inevitable.

    • digitalhap

      I’m assuming you’re talking about Tim Pawlenty?

  • jstjoan

    Just because Cain cancelled a personal appearance doesn’t mean the signatures are not still being gathered. That’s quite a stretch to claim that cancelling one appearance means he’s throwing in the towel.

    The only thing this email “indicates” is that his priorities for tomorrow’s schedule have changed. I’m guessing if you did some asking around you will find that volunteers in each of Ohio’s 88 counties are still collecting signatures.