Via the Right Scoop, I’m not nearly as sure as Kraut is that this is true. If Palin surprises everyone by staying out, Iowa will be wide open for a “true conservative” to emerge. And if Cain finishes well there, he’ll be well positioned to surprise people in his backyard of South Carolina. Doesn’t mean he’ll be the nominee, but it’s very easy to imagine him being a factor in the nomination given his grassroots support. If Palin does jump in, I don’t know how the base goes about trying to decide between them. Palin has held public office and Cain hasn’t, but Cain doesn’t have the sort of image problem out of the box that she has to overcome. How does the vote split between the two of them and Bachmann in Iowa? Somewhere Romney and Pawlenty consultants are reading that question and thinking: “Hopefully very evenly.”

I guess Kraut figures that since he’ll soon be alienating the base by criticizing Palin after she announces, he might as well go the whole nine yards and tweak Cain too. Speaking of which, the Herminator is now officially in. His formal announcement will come tomorrow.