Kurtz: The media 'knew' Cain would 'never' get the nomination

Howard Kurtz, media reporter for The Daily Beast, made an interesting observation following Herman Cain's announcement that he would suspend his presidential campaign: The news media never understood Cain's appeal and disregarded his chance of winning the Republican nomination for president from the beginning.

On Saturday, Cain had cable anchors filling time for hours until he finally walked out at his new headquarters in Atlanta and announced he was suspending his presidential campaign—with several hard shots at the media establishment.

“The pundits would like for me to shut up, drop out and go away,” he declared. That’s not true—the man was hugely entertaining for those of us in the press corps, even as we struggled to figure out his appeal.

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Cain was never going to win the nomination; we all knew that. But he did have an appeal to conservative voters that journalists could never quite figure out.

In the end, Cain failed because of a disorganized campaign, his inability to master the issues, his stumbling responses to the women’s charges, and perhaps a naivete that his personal baggage could remain safely stored in the closet. He couldn’t even make it to Iowa. But he sure livened up the campaign.