The entire MSM has been trying to deflate Cain for weeks. It's not about race, it's about Perry and Romney. In the establishment's GOP primary puppet show, Mitt is the Man, Perry's role was to play plausible alternative, and Cain's was to be the main rival of Perry in splitting the Social Conservative vote (replacing Bachmann, who proved unable to be a serious candidate). Only the bump the media gave Cain turned him into the MAN, leading in many polls, making Perry look even more pathetic (he now trails Bachmann in Iowa, at 7%).
And how does the media justify covering 7% Perry as a frontrunner as much as Romney, while Paul at 12% gets none at all? This, needless to say, makes a credibility mess of the MSM's "Romney-Perry" two-man race narrative, so they've been trying to dial Cain back down over some 'flap' or another throughout the month. The harrassment payoff scandal should finally do the trick.