Two Cain Staffers Quit

Via CNN: Two top Herman Cain staffers resign

Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain’s New Hampshire state director, his only staffer in the state, as well as a Cain campaign regional director have both resigned. 

Matt Murphy is the former state director and Jim Zeiler is the former regional director. Both defections raise the question of whether or not the Cain campaign is facing some trouble.

I have stated before that I would be mildly surprised if Cain is even on the ballot in NH, and situations like this fuel that position:

The Union Leader reported that Murphy cited the Cain campaign’s refusal to mount a serious effort in the critical, first-in-the-nation primary state. 

“There is no ill will toward Herman Cain,” Murphy reportedly told the paper. “There was a strategic difference and I left the campaign because of those differences. The differences involved the New Hampshire strategy and how much investment the campaign should put into New Hampshire.”
The Union Leader reports that Murphy wanted the Cain campaign to send in money to hire more people and for office space but that his requests were denied.

If Cain is to be taken seriously, he is going to have to be more serious about New Hampshire than that.

FILED UNDER: 2012 Election, US Politics, , ,
Steven L. Taylor
About Steven L. Taylor
Steven L. Taylor is a Professor of Political Science and a College of Arts and Sciences Dean. His main areas of expertise include parties, elections, and the institutional design of democracies. His most recent book is the co-authored A Different Democracy: American Government in a 31-Country Perspective. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Texas and his BA from the University of California, Irvine. He has been blogging since 2003 (originally at the now defunct Poliblog). Follow Steven on Twitter

Comments

  1. July 15th will be telling. Speculation has been that Cain’s fundraising is in worse shape than Pawlenty’s right now.

  2. Tlaloc says:

    I maintain Cain is this season’s Fred Thompson- all hype, no action.

  3. mattb says:

    @Tlaloc — actually, given the general rumblings, the *hope* he’ll enter the race, and the assumption that when he dos he becomes the de facto front runner, I wonder if Rick Perry is this cycle’s Thompson.

    Or perhaps he might Giuliani it.

  4. labman57 says:

    Perhaps they grew tired of being paid in pizza vouchers.