Posted on 09/19/2003 6:38:38 AM PDT by bedolido
ATLANTA (Talon News) -- When conservative Georgia Sen. Zell Miller decided he was going to retire next year, the former CEO of Godfather's Pizza decided it was time for him to bring the skills he has learned as a successful businessman to politics.
"His experience, coupled with his characteristic determination, make this black conservative a serious contender for the U.S. Senate in Georgia," said Matthew Craig, a research associate of the African-American leadership network Project 21, referring to Republican candidate Herman Cain.
Cain, who is an African-American and a conservative Republican, recently received overwhelming support from his former colleagues in the National Restaurant Association. At a recent meeting that took place in Washington, Cain was pleasantly surprised by the generosity they showed him in his bid to replace Miller.
"People were putting checks in my pocket," Cain said. "What am I supposed to do? They were so moved that they started writing checks."
Cain lived in Washington, DC in the 1990s when he was serving as the head of the National Restaurant Association. He is a self-made millionaire who believes his 35 years of success has laid the groundwork for an easy transition into public service.
"Now having achieved my American dream, it's time for me to give back," Cain said.
Although he describes himself as a conservative, he believes he brings so much more as a political candidate, not the least of which is a unique ability to attract black voters to the Republican Party.
"I'm not going to cause a whole herd, avalanche of black Democratic voters to vote Republican and vote for me," Cain admits. "I don't need all of them. I just need some of them ... who resonate with my message."
A Black America Political Action Committee poll last year found that 41 percent of African-Americans supported President George W. Bush. The poll also found that African-Americans are increasingly in favor of conservative policies such as school vouchers, Social Security reform, and tax cuts.
Cain faces competition in the Republican primary from Georgia lawmakers, Rep. Mac Collins and Rep. Johnny Isakson.
But the biggest obstacle that Cain faces right now is building a large enough campaign war chest to give Collins and Isakson a formidable challenge. But, he says he is confident that he will have the money he needs to be a competitive candidate. Even still, as a fiscal conservative, he said he would not be using any of his own personal wealth to win the nomination.
"I don't want to buy a seat in the Senate," he stated.
Also, he has vowed not to use any negative campaigning in the primary or general election races, which could plausibly pit Cain against Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young, an African-American who is considering a run for the Democrat nomination for U.S. Senate in Georgia.
"Wouldn't that be a very strong message by the state of Georgia, to have a black Democrat running against a black Republican?" Cain wondered. "It would set up a very interesting dynamic, but I still think we would be able to win."
Cain exudes confidence in an e-mail to his supporters about the prospect that he will be "the first conservative black CEO in America elected to the U.S. Senate in the Republican Party."
"I will fight tooth-and-nail in the U.S. Senate for the conservative Republican ideals we both share," Cain says in the e-mail.
Cain describes himself as an "anti-tax code advocate" in favor of a national sales tax who will take "an entrepreneurial approach to this race." Cain is a friend of former Republican presidential candidates and fellow fiscal conservatives Jack Kemp and Steve Forbes.
"We not only face terrorism as an evil," Cain believes. "The income tax code is evil."
As a businessman, Cain says he has seen the failed economic policies of the Democrat Party first hand.
"I am disgusted by the tax-and-spend philosophy of the liberal Democratic Party in America," he continues in the e-mail. "Their regressive taxation, their confiscation of wealth all the way through life -- and even at death -- and their immoral double taxation on the earnings of hard-working American's simply has to stop."
Cain describes how he was unafraid as CEO of Godfather's Pizza to take on former President Clinton's proposed universal health care in 1994 when he told the former president that his numbers were "flat out wrong -- dead wrong." Cain was so passionate about this issue because he said the "plan would cost many of my employees their jobs."
Since Cain majored in mathematics in college, he had the education to prove that he knew what he was talking about. Some members of the media credit Cain for dampening support for Clinton's plan for socialized medicine.
His platform as U.S. Senator will include replacing the current tax code, enhancing national security, reforming health care, privatizing Social Security, and voting for Bush's conservative judicial nominees.
"This is the first U.S. Senate race in modern times that Georgians will have the opportunity to elect a fiscally and socially conservative black Republican to the U.S. Senate," Cain adds in the e-mail, urging support for his one-of-a-kind candidacy.
Cain believes African-Americans should consider other options besides the Democrat Party when voting in elections.
"I intend to wake up minorities across America who have been taken for granted by the liberal Democrats," he expressed in the e-mail.
The Republican Party primary election in Georgia is slated for July 20, 2004.
Copyright © 2003 Talon News -- All rights reserved.
Gotta love this guy.
To answer your question, IMO Isakson and Collins.
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