Outside the Beltway

Report: Cain To Endorse Gingrich

Doug Mataconis · Monday, December 5, 2011 · 3 comments

Less than 48 hours after effectively dropping out of the Presidential race, Herman Cain is reportedly set to endorse Newt Gingrich:

ATLANTA – Herman Cain might be out of the running as a Republican presidential candidate, but his voice still carries weight with his many loyal supporters. Since he bowed out of the race Saturday, there has been much speculation on who he would endorse.

Sources tell FOX 5 News that Herman Cain plans to endorse fellow Georgian Newt Gingrich on Monday. They say details of a formal announcement are still being worked out.

A spokesperson with the Gingrich campaign said there is a 2 p.m. press conference in New York, which would follow a meeting with Donald Trump.

Although Cain endorsed Romney four years ago, this isn’t entirely surprising. Cain and Gingrich are both from Georgia, and we’ve already seen that Cain voters seem to be moving to Gingrich anyway. Additionally, it’s probably best for Cain to endorse someone now while he still appears to have some political influence, rather than a month from now when people have largely forgotten him.

Jim Geraghty comes away with the line of the morning on this one when he notes how little time elapsed between Cain’s announcement and this endorsement:

It sounds like it didn’t take Cain long on who he wanted to endorse – maybe fifteen minutes, or about 999 seconds.

Well it had to come in 30 minutes or less, otherwise the endorsement would’ve been free.

Update: Jeff Quinton takes note that both the Cain and Gingrich campaigns are denying that an endorsement is coming today.

Update (2:45pm): Cain has denied that an endorsement will be coming any time in the near future, of Gingrich or anyone else.