Herman Cain’s presidential campaign effectively ended today. Cain announced he was pursuing a “plan B” and would soon endorse another candidate in the race.
Steve Grubbs had been Cain’s Iowa campaign chairman until early this afternoon when Cain suspended his campaign.
“I guess I can’t say it was a surprise,” Grubbs said during an interview with Radio Iowa. “But my counsel would have been to stay the course and see it through, but obviously he thought a different way and I’ll be at peace with that.”
Grubbs, a former Iowa Republican Party chairman, is an experienced Iowa campaign operative. Grubbs signed on with the campaign in late October, when Cain was trying to capitalize on his soaring popularity in the polls.
“I have never been with a candidate who is so capable of commanding media attention in my entire life, you know, whether he’s in, whether he’s out — almost no matter what he does, he captures the attention of people,” Grubbs said. “It’s just sort of an amazing thing to watch.”
As for the fate of the 3000 yard signs that were delivered to Cain’s headquarters in Urbandale this past week, Grubbs has an answer: “You recycle.”
During remarks in Atlanta earlier this afternoon, Cain called politics a “dirty, dirty game” and he blamed “false and unproven” allegations for dooming his candidacy.