Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich said Sunday that he was "delighted" that fellow candidate Herman Cain was surging in the polls but hoped his popularity would be short lived.

"Herman Cain is a terrific person," Gingrich told CNN's Candy Crowley. "I think there's a certain attractiveness to Herman that a lot of people find very genuine. He's a good friend of mine and I'm delighted for him that he's having this kind of run. I wouldn't want it to go to the nomination but I'm delighted that he's having this kind of run."

"If Herman figures out how to do it all right and if he can explain a nine percent sales tax so people decide they want it, he has a good chance to be the nominee. If, however, in New Hampshire, for example, where they have no sales tax at all and no mechanism for collecting it, or in Iowa where senior citizens are going to say, wait a second, as my 79-year-old mother-in-law said on her Social Security, in her fixed income she's now going to pay nine percent more? As people look at 999 and disaggregate it, it gets to be a lot harder sale, I think."

The candidate added that Cain had surged because Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who many saw as the alternative to former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, had stumbled during several debates.

"Is Perry done?" Crowley asked.

"No, nobody's done in this business," the former House Speaker declared.