The GOP’s 2012 field is dominated thus far by frivolous flops. Matt Latimer on the sorry state of affairs—and why it’s not too late for a newcomer. Plus, Peter Beinart on why conservatives should root for Romney . 
 
 One GOP frontrunner is accused of several instances of sexual harassment; the other has managed to make his candidacy as exciting as coffin shopping. A third leading candidate spent this week trying to convince people he wasn’t drunk during a speech in New Hampshire. Not a single one of them—not Herman Cain nor Mitt Romney nor Rick Perry—bests a badly weakened Barack Obama in the latest polls. And yet our betters in the GOP establishment—the same crew who brought us Bob Dole, John McCain, and the PR strategy for the Iraq War—inform us that Republican primary voters are happier with their choices than ever. 
 
 The view may look bright at the top GOP echelon, but that does not appear to be the attitude of the rank and file. If anything, there is deep unease among activist conservatives—the sort who trudge to the polls in the bitter winters of Iowa and New Hampshire—about the state of the race. At several recent functions in Washington, attendees expressed great enthusiasm for unseating Obama, but hardly anyone was thrilled with their likely standard bearers. 
 
 Is it time for the GOP to start panicking yet? 
 
 Cain’s tortured and contradictory response to sexual-harassment allegations was made even worse by the reckless, not-ready-for-prime-time effort at deflection. Rick Perry was behind this! No, it was Rahm Emanuel! No, it was a massive media conspiracy! No, it was Professor Plum with the lead pipe in the billiards room. That Cain remains floating atop the GOP field is less a tribute to his staying power than a cruel indictment of the remaining field of frivolous flops. When you cannot lure voters away from a man who is accused of several counts of disreputable behavior and who seems to lack an understanding of many basic issues, from the Israeli-Palestinian crisis to his own tax plan, you’ve got yourself a problem. 
 
 As for Romney, he has finally started to outline some specifics to his proposals, most notably courageous plans to reform Medicare and Social Security. But even this effort posed an interesting problem for him. If another candidate had talked freely about raising the retirement age for Medicare and Social Security and turning Medicaid into block grants, there might have been a larger outcry. With Romney, there really wasn’t. Even the media seem to have decided that nothing the risk-averse, milquetoast Romney says really has anything to do with his presidency. All his ideas feel like consultant-fed pablum free to be ignored the minute the polls turn. When 72 percent of Romney’s own voters say they could easily change their vote to someone else, you’ve got a problem. 
 
 At several recent functions in Washington, attendees expressed great enthusiasm for unseating Obama, but hardly anyone was thrilled with their likely standard bearers. 
 
 Which means the GOP nominating process may yet take some surprising turns. Overall, about half of Republicans surveyed in a recent Washington Post–ABC News poll said they may yet change their allegiance in the race. That feels about right. In fact, the number may even grow higher as voters continue to shop for the least unacceptable of the lot. 
 
 Of the main contenders, only Perry and Newt Gingrich have demonstrated any signs of resurgence. Since the GOP debates commenced, Gingrich has steadily crept back into double digits in most polls, based on something surprising: ideas. He has little money, he has few ground troops, he has unleashed no attack ads, but he has answered questions clearly, forthrightly, and knowledgeably. And it is not inconceivable that others—even a Bachmann or a Santorum or a Huntsman—may finally find their day in the sun. 
 
 This year feels very different, as if anything could happen. Who knows: if an establishment favorite like Romney falters early, it is always possible that an entirely new candidate might yet decide to jump into the contest. Hoover, FDR, Kennedy, Nixon, and LBJ each won presidential primaries as write-in candidates. If things continue to be so unsettled, it’s not impossible that someone may decide to repeat that feat in 2012. Just don’t anybody give that idea to Donald Trump. ||||| Republican presidential contenders attacked upstart Herman Cain's economic plan forcefully as a tax increase waiting to happen Tuesday night, moving swiftly in campaign debate to blunt the former businessman's unlikely rise in the race for the party's nomination. 
 
 Sam Feist, Washington bureau chief and senior vice president for CNN, leads a tour of the debate stage before a Republican presidential debate sponsored by the network Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2011, in Las Vegas.... (Associated Press) 
 
 Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, left, shakes hands with Texas Gov. Rick Perry before the start of a Republican presidential debate Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2011, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Isaac Brekken) (Associated Press) 
 
 Republican presidential candidates Herman Cain, left, shakes hands with Texas Gov. Rick Perry, right, as former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney looks on before a Republican presidential debate Tuesday,... (Associated Press) 
 
 Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain gestures during a news conference with Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, not seen, at Arpaio's office Monday, Oct. 17, 2011, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Paul... (Associated Press) 
 
 Republican presidential candidates former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, right, points at businessman Herman Cain during a Republican presidential debate Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2011, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Chris... (Associated Press) 
 
 Yet old animosities flared anew, as well, as former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Texas Gov. Rick Perry swapped criticism in unusually personal and biting terms. "You have a problem with allowing someone to finish speaking," Romney declared as the two men interrupted one another repeatedly in a clash over immigration. 
 
 In on a bow to Nevada voters, none of the contenders said he wanted to open a proposed nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain. 
 
 The fifth debate in six weeks ranged over familiar contentious territory _ from immigration and health care to the economy and energy, often in antagonistic terms. The candidates engaged each other more directly and sometimes more heatedly than in previous debates. 
 
 But Cain's unlikely rise from asterisk in the polls to contender was clearly on the minds of his rivals on stage in a hotel along the Las Vegas Strip. 
 
 Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota led the verbal assault moments after the debate began, saying his call for a 9 percent federal sales tax would only be the beginning, with the rate rising later. 
 
 Former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania wasn't nearly as gentle, citing one analysis that found that taxes would go up for 84 percent of the nation's households if Cain's proposal went into effect. "We're talking about major increases in taxes," he said, adding that a single person and a couple with children with the same income would pay the same tax under Cain's proposal. 
 
 Undeterred, Cain insisted the charges were untrue. He said he was being criticized because lobbyists, accountants and others "want to continue to be able to manipulate the American people with a 10-million- word mess," the current tax code. 
 
 Cain's proposal is for a 9 percent personal income tax, a 9 percent corporate tax and a 9 percent national sales tax. 
 
 The former pizza company CEO is the latest and unlikeliest phenomenon in the race to pick a rival for President Barack Obama. A black man in a party that draws few votes from Africans Americans, he had bumped along with little notice as Romney sought to fend off one fast-rising rival after another. 
 
 That all changed in the past few weeks, after Perry burst into the race and then fell back in the polls. However unlikely Cain's rise, Tuesday night's debate made clear that none of his rivals are willing to let him go unchallenged. 
 
 "Herman, I love you, brother, but let me tell you something, you don't need to have a big analysis to figure this thing out," Perry said to Cain. "Go to New Hampshire where they don't have a sales tax and they don't have any interest in one," he said, referring to the state that will hold the first primary early next year. 
 
 The debate was the fifth since Labor Day, and the last scheduled for nearly a month in a race that is fluid in more than one way. 
 
 While polls chart a series of rises and falls for various contenders _ Romney remaining at or near the top _ the schedule is far from set. Florida's decision to move up its primary set off a scramble as Iowa maneuvered to make sure its caucuses are the first real test of the race and New Hampshire works to protect its half-century distinction as host to the first primary. 
 
 It was Perry who instigated the confrontation over immigration, saying that Romney had no credentials on the issue because he had once hired an illegal worker, the "height of hypocrisy." 
 
 Romney denied the charge, saying he had hired a company to mow his lawn and did not know that it had an illegal immigrant on its payroll. 
 
 The two men talked over one another, and at one point, Romney placed his hand on Perry's shoulder. 
 
 "It's been a tough couple of debates for Rick. And I understand that so you're going to get nasty," he said. 
 
 As Perry continued to speak, Romney stopped him: "You have a problem with allowing someone to finish speaking, and I suggest that if you want to become president of the United States, you've got to let both people speak," he said. 
 
 On a more substantive level, Perry said he opposed repealing the portion of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution that says anyone born in the United States is automatically a citizen. 
 
 Bachmann, Santorum and Rep. Ron Paul of Texas all sidestepped the question. 
 
 Cain found himself on the defensive on two others issues during the two-hour debate. 
 
 He apologized for earlier remarks about building an electric fence on the Mexico border that could kill people trying to cross illegally. 
 
 And he said he wouldn't be willing to negotiate with terrorists, even though he had appeared to suggest he might be in an interview earlier in the day. 
 
 Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman skipped this debate, saying he was boycotting the Nevada caucuses in a dispute over the primary and caucus calendar. He is campaigning exclusively in New Hampshire in hopes of a victory that can move him into the thick of the race. 
 
 Not only Republicans, but Obama was also critical of Cain's economic plan during the day. 
 
 In an interview with ABC News, Obama said it would be a "huge burden" on middle-class and working families. 
 
 ___ 
 
 Associated Press writer Steve Peoples in Washington contributed to this report.
– On the surface, things aren’t looking good for President Obama—but if Republicans want to beat him, they’ll need a viable candidate. And that’s something they don’t appear to have, writes Matt Latimer for the Daily Beast. Instead, they’ve got battered Herman Cain, who’s still at the top of the field. “When you cannot lure voters away from a man who is accused of several counts of disreputable behavior and who seems to lack an understanding of many basic issues, you’ve got yourself a problem,” Latimer writes. Mitt Romney, meanwhile, seems so full of “consultant-fed pablum” that even his controversial ideas—like raising the retirement age—don’t get the media going. Then there’s Rick Perry, who’s still trying to prove he wasn’t plastered in New Hampshire. Even William Kristol is acknowledging that no Republican is going to come from nowhere and pull a 1980 Ronald Reagan-style victory. “Is it time for the GOP to start panicking yet?” Latimer asks. Yep. And it's not too late for a new candidate to jump in. "Just don't anybody give that idea to Donald Trump."