Posted on 06/20/2004 5:15:01 AM PDT by Maurice1962
Posted on Wed, Jun. 16, 2004
Black businessman looks for GOP votes in Senate race
DICK PETTYS
Associated Press
ROCKMART, Ga. - Herman Cain is a self-made man with a rags-to-riches background and a yen to start a political career at the top, never mind the long march most candidates make through steppingstone offices to get a shot at the U.S. Senate.
It's not a unique biography for a Republican candidate in Georgia and it invites comparisons to Guy Millner, the wealthy businessman who seemed ill-suited to the campaign trail and three times led Georgia Republicans to electoral defeats in the 1990s.
But Cain is no Guy Millner, he protested during a recent interview. A pause followed and then he burst into laughter. "Because we have different color eyes."
Another difference - left unspoken - is that Cain is black. That brings a unique twist to a three-way race for the Republican Senate nomination in Georgia this year.
Cain is the first black candidate in modern times to seek a top statewide office under the Republican banner in Georgia, and his candidacy has created quite a buzz.
A professional speaker who commands up to $25,000 for his services, Cain is a wizard of the microphone who delivers a rock-ribbed conservative message with the vigor of the Southern Baptist minister that he is.
It is a message that potentially could cross racial lines in a July 20 primary election in which few blacks are likely to participate.
Scott Cook, a 39-year-old middle school teacher, left a forum here impressed with Cain's performance.
"Before I came here, I did not even know about Mr. Cain," said Cook, who is white. "After seeing this, he has swayed me probably to where I'm going to be voting for him in the primary. He sounded like he had some good, fresh ideas whereas the others were basically politics as usual."
On a speaking tour that will take him from this west Georgia city to the northern suburbs of Atlanta, Cain will draw favorable comments from mostly white audiences who like his message and fall under the spell of his powerful voice.
How many will vote for him in the primary? That's the biggest unknown, and the odds look especially long because his two opponents both are congressmen with built-in bases of support - Reps. Johnny Isakson of Marietta and Mac Collins of Hampton.
"He has a lot of political skills, a tremendous amount of natural political talent," said Emory University political science professor Merle Black. "His main problem always has been he's running against candidates who are veteran office holders who have already built up networks of political support."
Only four blacks ever have served in the U.S. Senate and only two in modern times: Edward Brooke, a Massachusetts Republican, who served from 1967 to 1979, and Carol Mosely-Braun, an Illinois Democrat, who served from 1993 to 1999.
Cain is undaunted. He is a risk-taker, or he never would have risen to be vice president of the company for which his father pushed a broom as janitor. Or rescued Godfather's Pizza, the Omaha, Neb.-based fast-food chain, from the threat of bankruptcy and then bought out the company.
His philosophy is outlined in a speech he often gives business groups: "Let me tell you how I spell entrepreneur: r-i-s-k."
Cain is a Georgia native who's been away a very long time and only now is reintroducing himself to the state.
Born in Atlanta in 1945, his father worked three jobs to support the family and his mother worked as a maid. After graduating from Morehouse College with a degree in mathematics and a minor in physics in 1967, he worked as a civilian employee of the U.S. Navy in Virginia developing fire control systems for weapons.
"It was safe, it was secure, it was comfortable and it was predictable," he said of that job. "Well, there was too much predictability and safety for me early in my career."
In 1972 he went to work for The Coca Cola Co. in Atlanta as a business problem solver and four years later was recruited by the Pillsbury Co. in Minneapolis, Minn., to become manager of business analysis.
He eventually became a vice president of the company for which his father once had worked as a janitor, but jumped to the Burger King division of the company in 1982 to start a new career path he hoped would take him to a corporate presidency.
After more success there, Pillsbury tapped him to take over the ailing Godfather's chain. He restored it to profitability and eventually bought it, finally selling his interest last year. He returned to Georgia in 2000 and now lives in McDonough.
Cain got involved in national political issues as president of the National Restaurant Association, battling government mandates and regulation. He flirted with a run for president in 2000, hoping "to elevate the discussions to real solutions to the big problems," but withdrew.
He credits his pastor, the Rev. Cameron Alexander of Antioch Baptist Church North, with the push that got him in the Senate race. "He gave a sermon one Sunday that said a calling is when your talents intersect human needs," Cain said.
Issue Number One for Cain is replacing the income tax with a national sales tax.
"All of the social problems that we have in this country can be traced back to economic conditions, and economic conditions can all be traced through the health of the economy and the economy is most hampered by the tax code. Go for the jugular! This is my whole point. This is why I get excited about this," he declares.
He opposes abortion except when the mother's life is endangered, although he once also would have allowed exceptions for cases of rape and incest.
"I never envisioned I would be running for public office, so I never tried to couch what I said based on what somebody was going to bring up 15 years later," he explained. "Three exceptions has been sort of a political middle ground to be pro-life for a long time, and that's where I started ... I've gotten more conservative."
Cain, the risk-taker, has invested $775,000 of his own money in his campaign, a sizable chunk for a guy who estimates his net worth at between $5 million and $10 million.
It's an investment, he says. "I'm investing it in changing the future of this country."
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Dick Pettys has covered Georgia government and politics since 1970
PING!!
I did not do the events at the Trade Center.
I really do not care for Forbes that much. should of added that to the other post.
:-)!
I like both Cain and Collins, and will cheerfully vote for either, but Cain impresses me as being more of a leader and a self-starter - Collins is more of a behind-the-scenes type guy.
Isakson is currently my representative, so I am very familiar with him and his voting patterns. He is what I would call a "reluctant conservative" - that may be because there is a significant liberal element in his district, but I think it's just the way he is (when he ran for the Senate, Wyche Fowler claimed that he only voted liberal because he represented the very liberal 5th in Congress, but he was lying.)
FWIW, in constituent services Isakson is nowhere to be found. The times I wrote him with a problem or concern, I only got a form letter - and it usually was a weasel letter which wouldn't take either side of an issue (especially if it concerned gun control or abortion.)
I will, however, vote for Isakson in order to keep Majette out of the seat.
Go Herman go!
He's got my vote.
Anyone know anything about the 8 democrats running for the U.S. Senate seat? I have been told our three Republican candidates outpace all of them.
Representative Majette is the only Democrat running that I have heard about. She has probably hitched her star to Kerry, hoping he picks Nunn for v.p. Her exodus from the House leaves the leftist Cynthia McKinney as the likely winner for that seat.
There is no disagreement, Tatze, I agree with your entire post in regard to the GA Senate candidates. Isakson would be like Kay Hutchison; Collins would be like Richad Shelby, and Cain would be like Jesse Helms!
All the Dems started campaigning in May. It is impossible to reach all of Georgia. Majette will win simply because she is a congresswoman and would have the most name recognition.
The Republican nominee will stomp all over them.
That is a scary scenario, Cynthia McKinney back in any office.
As a white dude, I say we need HC in the Senate. And regardless of race, this is the type of canidate the Republicans should be fielding whether white, hispanic, asian, or black.
It's time to retire many of the Senate lily white, no backbone, country club boys anyway.
Sorry, I vote by Content of Character, not skin color.
Last I heard Levetan is leading the pack. If there is a run-off she will get the majority of votes in the northern part of the district and hopefully some votes around the Emory area. I think she has a good chance of winning.
BTW the primary is July 20th.
Taking anything for granted in Georgia politics is a mistake. Any poll will tell you the state is still very closely divided. Remember when everyone said Barnes couldn't be beat a mere two years ago?
Isakson is the only candidate who can guarantee us a win. A vote for Cain or Collins in the primary is a vote for Majette in the general.
PRAY this guy wins. He's wonderful.
And you don't think Cain has the character?
Sorry, I vote by Content of Character, not skin color.
Isn't that exactly what the 1st poster was saying?
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