Jack Kimball, a Portsmouth businessman and former chairman of New Hampshire's Republican Party who is backing Cain, said it's a race against the clock to make sure voters get a taste.

"What we're concerned with right now is the compression of the primary calendar," Kimball said in an interview. "I absolutely feel that he can pull it off here," Kimball said. "If we don't come out of here first, we absolutely can come out of here nip-and-tuck second."

Cain finished considerably worse than that in the race for cash, reporting over the weekend that he raised $2.6 million between July 1 and Sept. 30, compared to $17 million for Perry and $14.2 million for Romney over the same period.

And Cain, whose chief of staff Mark Block has never run a presidential campaign, faces other challenges as he seeks to ramp up his effort in Iowa, New Hampshire and other key states.

"It's real tough," said Corey Lewandowski, New Hampshire director of the Tea Party-aligned Americans for Prosperity. "Almost all of the political operatives that want to be working in New Hampshire are already working" for someone else, he said, though some could be freed as other candidates fade.

Resonating Message

"His message resonates with the Tea Party very well," Lewandowski said. "The people who are supporting Herman Cain are the type of people that show up and vote in the primary."

For now at least, Cain is riding a wave -- the preferred candidate of 27 percent of Republican voters in the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, compared with Romney's 23 percent and Perry's 16 percent. Texas Representative Ron Paul drew 11 percent in the survey conducted Oct. 6-10, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich 8 percent, Bachmann 5 percent and former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman Jr. 3 percent.

Cain is enjoying his moment, even as it has brought fresh scrutiny and criticism of his signature tax plan and more attention to campaign gaffes. Cain, who has trademarked the phrase "The Hermanator Experience" and spent much of the past several weeks on tour promoting his book "This is Herman Cain!," is more marketing genius than policy heavyweight.

9-9-9 Plan

Critics in both parties have faulted Cain's 9-9-9 plan to replace the current code with 9 percent business, individual and national sales taxes -- with Republicans warning it could lead to future tax increases and Democrats asserting it would disproportionately hit lower-income earners.

His vow to balance the federal budget in one year would necessitate spending cuts of more than 20 percent. And his plan to adopt a "Chilean model" in place of the Social Security retirement system for the elderly has raised yet more questions about how -- amid soaring deficits -- he would finance it.