Herman Cain to slow his schedule down

Herman Cain is gearing up to slow down the pace of his presidential effort, according to one of his top aides.

J.D. Gordon, the campaign's vice president for communications, said Cain will try to avoid future gaffes by achieving a "more deliberative pace" on the trail.

"We're trying to slow down a little bit, make sure he's rested, make sure he's focused," J.D. Gordon told CNN's Howard Kurtz.

Gordon added that mistakes happen when a candidate is conducting seven or eight events a day and does not use a teleprompter, as is the case with Cain.

The comments follow a string of statements and staff defections that have received negative press.

Gordon said a lack of sleep was partially to blame for Cain's comments to CNN's Piers Morgan about abortion and his comments to CNN's Wolf Blitzer about the possibility of a prisoner exchange with detainees in Guantanamo Bay that he quickly retracted.

The abortion flare up has yet to die down and the campaign attempted to clarify the former pizza executive's stance again Thursday. After saying he was "pro-life, no exceptions," a Cain campaign adviser said he "learned more about the issue" and that he would now support abortions in instances of rape, incest and when the life of the mother is at stake.