Beware 'The Hermanator'

“No-one should underestimate Herman Cain.”
That’s what a key Republican figure in the critical state of Iowa told me many months ago.
And recent opinion polls show that ‘The Herman-ator’ has suddenly become a very serious candidate for the Republican nomination.
The former Godfather’s pizza executive had very little name recognition when the race began..
But the cancer survivor with a radio host’s personality and extraordinary power to wow a crowd has slowly built support and credibility.
The biggest challenge to those two things may have just arrived.
Reports over the weekend suggested Cain’s campaign has “close ties to two billionaire brothers who bank-roll the right-leaning causes through their group Americans for Prosperity”.
In fact members of Cain’s campaign team had previously worked for the advocacy group funded by Charles and David Koch.
Not a problem for any other candidate perhaps but Cain regularly presents himself as the outsider, untainted by the political game, with real-world experience.
In fact he told Sky News as much when we caught up with him in Iowa in August (pictured above). His campaign has yet to respond to the latest claims.
Of course, there is a very good chance that Republican voters won’t care that much about who is funding who in the race for the White House.
Americans for Prosperity lobbies for lower taxes and less government spending – something most Republican voters seem to want.
Cain’s so-called ‘9-9-9’ plan for overhauling America’s tax system has also been getting plenty of attention.
So too his (some would say refreshing) habit of admitting when he doesn’t know the answer to a question lobbed on the campaign trail.
And, despite all this, at the moment he remains on the heels of front-runner Mitt Romney
Could any of the above de-rail his strengthening run for the Republican nomination?
It seems writing off the ‘Herman-ator’ is a risky business.