IMHO, you are correct in assessing the commentators never believed Cain had a chance, but their behavior manifests something far more corrupt.
They live in a world where everything associated with democracy is not what the public perceives as democracy.
Some attribute it to some sort of masonic type conspiracy where these members of the press have their entire world encapsulated in an elite power structure far removed from the common man.
These ‘commentators’ are not the most brilliant of men. One might even more closely approximate their true potential as mediocre at best with a void of virtue.
IMHO, their behavior manifests they are part of a larger scheme, a world in which they have been given a part, and in their arrogance, they really think they are above the common man because they see the inner workings of something they conceal from the public.
It may be nothing more than that they have have been promised Nirvana - direct government subsidy of journalists - in return for unswerving support of the welfare state. But the welfare state has to get big enough to afford them, first - that's why they react with screeching panic every time a politician suggests shrinking it.