On a balmy summer day in Florida last year, a former businessman named Herman Cain laid out what his central argument would be to voters if he decided to run for president.
“I’m not a politician. I’m a problem solver,” Cain confidently told The Daily Caller during a conversation in between tea party rallies that day.
Yet more than a year later, the former Godfather’s Pizza CEO ended the Republican bid he went on to launch after struggling to solve a headache that just wouldn’t go away.
“As false accusations continue, they have sidetracked my ability to present solutions to the American people,” Cain said on Saturday, referencing allegations of infidelity and inappropriate behavior with women dating back to his tenure in the 1990s leading the National Restaurant Association in Washington, D.C.
The suspension marked the end of a remarkable campaign that took Herman Cain and his 9-9-9 tax reform plan and made them household names.
“Herman Cain is thinking about running for president, even though it’s likely you’ve never heard of him,” the first story about Cain published by TheDC read where he announced he was thinking about running.
Compare that to Saturday when Cain, who was granted Secret Service protection during the campaign, joked about how famous he has become: “Right now, my name ID is probably 99.9,” alluding to the name of his tax reform plan.
Cain’s candidacy really began to take off in May after his performance in a presidential debate hosted by Fox News in South Carolina.
His introduction couldn’t have gone much better: A focus group conducted afterwards on Fox by pollster Frank Luntz showed near unanimous agreement that Cain won the debate.
As he became better known, the candidate hit a few road bumps: A video taken by the liberal Think Progress organization went viral showing Cain saying he wouldn’t appoint Muslims to his cabinet — an issue that dogged him for months.
He found his groove by introducing his straight forward “9-9-9” plan, which throws out the current tax code and replaces it with a 9 percent flat tax, corporate tax and national sales tax.
“The bottom line, folks, is that 9-9-9 means jobs, jobs, jobs,” Cain said.
Nearly all of his opponents came to criticize the plan, citing concerns, for example, that creating a new tax national sales could lead to future congresses raising the 9 percent rate to tax more.
Cain surged to the top tier after a surprise win in the Florida straw poll in September, and continued to lead until news reports surfaced in October about women who accused Cain of harassment while working for him at the National Restaurant Association.
The fiasco threw a member of Cain’s family into the spotlight: his wife Gloria, who was not active on the campaign trail but whom Cain argued was still supportive of his bid.
“Don’t expect the traditional amount of exposure you normally get from a campaign wife,” Cain said about his wife in an interview with TheDC. “She’s not going to do that.”
Concerns about Cain’s grasp of issues became illuminated recently when he appeared to struggle during an editorial board meeting in Wisconsin to articulate a position on Libya. His polls numbers began to drop.
But it’s already clear his relentless promotion of throwing out the tax code will be part of his legacy.
“Herman Cain’s 999 plan got our country talking about the critical issue of how to reform our tax code, and he elevated the dialogue of the Republican presidential primary in the process,” rival Newt Gingrich said after Cain announced he is suspending his campaign.
Another rival, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, released a statement saying Cain “helped invigorate conservative voters and our nation with a discussion of major tax reform.”
Even Texas Rep. Ron Paul, who often sparred on the debate stage with Cain, complimented him on Saturday for bringing “a unique perspective on many domestic issues important to voters such as tax code reform and a pro-growth agenda favorable to the private sector.”
On Saturday, Cain said he plans to endorse a candidate soon.
While a talk show host in 2008, Cain endorsed former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney’s bid for president. But it would also make sense for him to throw his support this time behind Gingrich, who he is friends with and who has suggested previously he would consider Cain as vice president.