No sooner had this appeared (via Fox News):

Cain Leapfrogs Romney to Vault to Lead in Poll 

What a difference a few debates can make.

Herman Cain’s star has risen steadily in the past two months, from a largely unknown CEO running for president to a top-tier candidate in the Republican field for 2012 — and now voters even rank him above the presumed front-runner, Mitt Romney, in a poll released Wednesday evening.

Than this appeared (via the Washington Post):

Herman Cain’s deceptive and unfair tax plan

REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL candidate Herman Cain’s 9-9-9 tax plan was the centerpiece of Tuesday’s Post-Bloomberg debate. Mr. Cain claims his proposal is a “bold plan to grow this economy” while getting the debt under control. His opponents warned variously that the plan would never pass (former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum) or that it would (Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann), giving Congress the “pipeline of a new revenue stream” that would inevitably be cranked higher.

Mr. Cain’s plan is problematic, but not for the reasons his fellow presidential contenders claim. Rather than putting the country on a sustainable fiscal path, it risks not producing enough revenue to fund the government’s needs. It would turn the current progressivity of the tax code upside-down, giving a windfall to the wealthy and hiking the tax burden for the least well-off.

Not to mention this (via Bloomberg Business Week):

Cain 9-9-9 Tax Code Scrap Keeps Federal Levies on Gasoline, Beer

Oct. 13 (Bloomberg) — Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain, who has pledged to throw out the U.S. tax code, now says he would keep excise taxes on goods such as gasoline, beer and cigarettes.

The Hermanator is about to be Hermanated.

Sic transit politics.