Is Cain too likable to draw fire from the other candidates?

Some of the challenge for the other candidates may be that Cain is so darn likable. His remarks at the forum were almost policy-free. But they had a good spirit — upbeat and patriotic, managing to praise both the civil rights movement and Ronald Reagan. (Michele Bachmann, in contrast, attacked the provision of benefits to “illegal aliens and their children” — going out of her way to repeatedly target “children” at a Christian forum.) A direct attack on Cain might have risked boos and hisses.

But the other candidates may also be calculating that Cain’s support will inevitably decline without their help — especially since he has been gaffe-prone on a number of issues, domestic and international. The message of Cain’s unpreparedness may be carried by the media and by figures such as Huckabee. Operatives of the other campaigns believe Cain is weak on the ground in Iowa, with little campaign structure, and think he has peaked too early. Cain’s reception at the Iowa forum was good, but not particularly enthusiastic (by that measure, Newt Gingrich won the night). And it is odd that Cain did not mix with the influential crowd as the other candidates did — perhaps avoiding awkward abortion questions.