Did Herman Cain on Meet the Press help or hinder Herman Cain?

[Frylock]

I saw some of the interview. The thing that stood out the most (of what I saw) was that the interviewer really seemed to be softballing Cain, which I thought was odd for Meet the Press.

But does this match others' impressions?

(The question that really made me think this was the one where the interviewer was insisting on adding the state and federal income tax, while Cain was pointing out that since the proposal says nothing about state taxes, it doesn't make sense to add the state tax into the number being discussed. Cain's point in this particular instance appeared to be fairly obvious--but the interviewer kept pushing on it as though he didn't understand Cain's point.)

Cain seemed surprisingly charismatic, and I know he's in front in polling. Is there much serious possiblility he'll be the nominee?