And another one bites the dust

The attrition rate among the vast crop of GOP presidential candidates is only rivaled by that among their staff, what with Gingrich and Bachmann losing large chunks of their hired help in the last couple of months.

The latest to be afflicted is Herman “Herb” Cain:

Des Moines, Iowa (CNN) - The communications director for Herman Cain’s presidential campaign has resigned, CNN has learned.

Ellen Carmichael told CNN on Saturday her decision is firm but not yet finalized.

“I have resigned but the paperwork’s not final,” Carmichael said.

Carmichael explained her decision is a personal one and that she’s pursuing other professional opportunities. She also said that her assistant, Francis Boustany, is also leaving for professional reasons.

All parties claim the split is amicable, though there are rumors otherwise. The Cain team’s replacement is ex-Defense Department spoke from the Rumsfeld era J.D. Gordon, whose résumé is, uh, colorful:

While in the Pentagon, he served as the Press Team Leader for Operations, Policy & Intelligence and was responsible for Western Hemisphere Affairs and U.S. Southern Command; Asia-Pacific Security Affairs and U.S. Pacific Command; and Detainee Affairs. In this capacity, he was DoD’s principal spokesman for all facets of Guantanamo detention operations and detainee-related litigation, to include lead media escort and on-scene spokesman for military commissions, the war crime trials for alleged Al Qaeda and Taliban combatants and supporters.

Gordon has reportedly already been helping out with Cain’s communications strategy. I’m not clear how much the recent change in tone of messaging from the Cain campaign is down to his influence and how much is just Herman Cain being Herman Cain.

Update: I’m not reading too much into this development, more than anything I’m somewhat amused by someone graduating from the unrivaled PR success that was and is Guantanamo to head a political campaign, but Robert Stacy McCain is spinning this so hard that I have to wonder whether he’s protesting too much. This isn’t the first public split in the Cain camp, some friction having arisen earlier in the year over, among other things, Cain’s “999” tax plan.

Posted by YAFB on 10/02/11 at 09:55 AM • Permalink

Categories: Politics • Election '12 • War In Error • Skull Hampers •

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Probably an indelicate question but are his ex-communication people white?

Comment by Nellcote on 10/02/11 at 12:34 PM

Just remember, Reagan fired/lost his top campaign staff during the 1980 primary, and then replaced them with Cylons.

Comment by StrangeAppar8us on 10/02/11 at 12:49 PM

Probably an indelicate question but are his ex-communication people white?

Well, Ms. Carmichael looks pretty pink from what photos I’ve seen. I have a feeling that “brainwashing” stuff is pure Cain, though. The question for me is more whether the strategy is going to be to “let Cain be Cain” even more than he already has been. That’s as much as there is a strategy—despite his experience eleswhere, Cain’s a campaigning novice, which may be why Gordon’s been brought on board.

Cain’s currently hammering Perry for having a rock at one time labeled “Niggerhead” on his hunting patch (that was its historic name, so they say). I’ve no idea what impact that’s going to end up having on whatever’s the GOP base at the moment.