Whether it's because of his support for "fringe" monetary policy prescriptions like a return to the gold standard, or lingering disgust over the sexual harassment scandal that sunk his 2011 presidential bid - or simply the memory of his infamous campaign-ad 'smile' - enough Republican Senators have now publicly opposed former Godfather's Pizza CEO Herman Cain that his nomination for a seat on the Fed board has been sunk before the official vetting process had even finished.

The Hill reports that Sen. Kevin Cramer, a North Dakota Republican and a close ally of President Trump ally, told reporters that "if I had to vote right now, there's no way I could vote for" Cain.

And of course Chuck Schumer has confirmed that he doesn't know any Democrats who would back Cain.

Cain's nomination, which was never on firm ground, appeared doomed earlier this week, following a flurry of reports warning that Republican senators were grousing about the nominee. These were followed by Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, Utah's Mitt Romney (a former presidential rival of Cain's) and Colorado's Corey Gardner publicly opposing the nomination. Though some have questioned his qualifications, Cain once served as chairman of the Kansas City Fed.

Ostensibly, the Republican opposition to Cain is the second presidential snub by the Republican controlled senate in as many months (it also backed a measure to try and terminate his national emergency, which Trump ultimately vetoed). However, we wouldn't be surprised to learn some day that Trump only floated Cain to make Steve Moore look better by comparison, bolstering the chances that the former Trump campaign advisor would be confirmed by the Senate to fill one of the two empty board of governors seats for the 'non-partisan' central bank.