Between May 1st through July 2nd Cain has participated in only four town hall events. He also gave a couple of quick appearances (like the Strong American Now Conference) in Iowa. Yesterday he made two stops in Iowa – Winterset and Indianola, and now he’s on the east coast. He just has not done serious campaigning in Iowa.

His campaign seems to be employing a nationwide strategy that doesn’t make sense in a primary race. For instance I have learned from Fayette County Republican Chair, Jim Kirkpatrick, that Cain’s campaign canceled his appearance at the Fayette County Republicans Summer Picnic on August 6th, one week before the straw poll. In its place they have an event in Turner, OR scheduled. Oregon? The nominee could very well be decided before Oregon votes. In fact, if you look at his public calendar as of right now he doesn’t have a single public event in Iowa scheduled before the straw poll (though I’m sure he’ll be at the Fox News/Iowa GOP debate a couple of days before). In July he is doing an events in Alabama and Ohio though. Yesterday he was in Pennsylvania with one stop in New Hampshire, and the rest of the week he’s in Las Vegas. Yet he can’t seem to string together several days to campaign in Iowa. One source close to the campaign has told me that his campaign is a “dysfunctional organization at every level.”