Herman Cain & 9-9-9 monotony

Last night's debate was the biggest dose yet not only of Herman Cain, but his now ubiquitous 9-9-9 plan. It was mentioned twenty-six times last night, according to the transcript. For comparison, China was mentioned twenty-one times, manufacturing was mentioned thirteen times, budget was mentioned eight times, and unemployed or unemployment was mentioned three times.

The question at hand is this: can Herm Cain ride one idea to electoral success? The simplicity of 9-9-9 is captivating, but at the same time, even his radically conservative opponents are poking holes in it. It also is being presented as a cure-all for America's economic woes. But it takes a serious suspension of critical thought to think one tax policy could simultaneously address the huge variety of economic problems we face, from the broken housing market to joblessness to the decline of the manufacturing sector to our trade deficit with China and so on.

At some point, Cain will have to present another idea or risk losing voters who find 9-9-9 appealing, but want something more. He's used his message discipline on 9-9-9 as a cure-all to rise up the polls, both nationally and in key early primary states. But in a cycle defined by non-Romney candidate boomlets that come and go on a biweekly basis, Cain needs to add to his repertoire. I don't see how a single-idea candidate can dethrone Mitt Romney, at least not without the help of some massively effective negative ads targeting Romney. Now is the time for Cain's campaign to develop another idea. If he's going to be successful, it should probably have the broad-based resonance 9-9-9 seems to be having. That's no easy thing, but without more ideas, Cain's campaign should rightly be pigeonholed by 9-9-9 and dismissed as unserious.