Raising Cain's ID: The pizza man says, Let's you and him fight; I'll just sit here in the tv set

Atlanta Journal Constitution ^ | 2/2/04 | Jim Galloway and Jim Tharpe

[ibi_libertas]

Raising Cain's ID: The pizza man says, 'Let's you and him fight; I'll just sit here in the television set.' Political Insider (Galloway and Tharpe) AJC http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/insider/index.html

Herman Cain might be the least-known candidate in the Republican race for the U.S. Senate in Georgia, but on Monday he became the first candidate out of the gate with statewide television ads.

Cain, the former chief executive officer of Godfather's Pizza, began running a series of televised ads in which he introduces himself to Georgia voters and blasts "liberal judges," the current U.S. tax code and the "Hollywood crowd attacking our president."

"One of the reasons I'm going up [on the air] early is that I don't have the name identification of the other candidates," he said. "We don't plan to go up and disappear. We plan to go up and stay up."

Cain initially will run three television ads in rotation in the state's major television markets. He plans to follow those with radio ads and personal appearances as the tries to build name recognition. In one of the television spots, Cain spells out his views on God and government.

"I believe liberal judges shouldn't take the works 'under God' out of our Pledge of Allegiance," he says in the ad. "If they do, I believe we should put 'em back. I believe that we need a constitutional amendment to guarantee we remain 'one nation under God.' "

Cain has got four commercials in hand and 16 in the can. A parallel wave of radio ads also is on the agenda.

The ads are all positive. The dominant color is cool blue.

And for the time being, Cain is content to let his two competitors raise the temperature of things by fighting over abortion: His ads don't mention the topic.

Cain, 58, of McDonough is running against U.S. Rep. Johnny Isakson of Cobb County and U.S. Mac Collins of Butts County in the July 20 Republican primary.

We haven't seen the particulars yet, but Cain says he has raised $1.5 million so far for the race, and has $1 million to spend. Isakson has raised $3.3 million, and Collins has roughly $700,000.

Collins and Cain are after the same core religious-oriented Republican voter. Collins' extensive political background gives him the advantage. But not a few Republicans noted that Saturday, at the annual meeting of the Georgia Christian Coalition, it was Cain who was treated like a rock star. Not Collins.

[JohnnyZ]

Wow! Great news from the Cain campaign. Sounds a lot better than what we were seeing before. Much better article than the snippet we had yesterday.

[AnAmericanMother]

Collins is no rock star and never will be. But he's a good solid conservative.

If he or Cain is ultimately the nominee, I will cheerfully vote for either one.

Just keep Johnny the h$#%%^ out of the Senate! He is my representative, and he's a RINO weasel.

[JohnnyZ]

Cain and Collins both have the problem that many of their supporters are not registered Republicans. I gather you can cross over in Georgia, but those folks might be drawn to the local primaries on the D side for sheriff or who knows. Blacks for Cain, Rednecks for Collins.

[templar]

Cain sounds interesting at the very least. Anyone in Georgia think he's got a chance?

[AnAmericanMother]

There are a lot more Republicans around here than there used to be -- the old "the election is decided in the Democratic primary" rule doesn't hold true any more . . . at least not in the larger counties.

And let me point out that not only can we cross over in GA, there is no party registration! The only rule is that if there's a runoff in one party's primary and you voted in the other party's primary, you can't cross over just for the runoff.

[WilDave]

In Georgia, you ask for whichever party ballot you wish to vote on when you enter the polling area. For the presidential primary, I will ask for a Democrat ballot and vote for Al Sharpton.
The senatorial race is later, maybe in July or August. At that time, I will ask for a Republican ballot and vote for Herman Cain.
Whoever the Republican winner of the primary is, he should be the defacto senator from Georgia. There is no viable Democratic candidate.

[ibi_libertas]

I believe he has more than a chance. I believe he is going to win. He has already raised $1.5 million and he is not afraid to face all the big issues. He knows how to solve so many of the problems that we face as a Nation and he has a moral center. This is the man to vote for!!

[Amish]

Will be interesting to see if Cain can generate a strong black middle class cross over...and if so, what that and a white focus on the GOP Senate race does to the Dim. primary race the same day between Denise Majette and Cynthia McKinney ??? Any Georgia folk care to speculate/

[Paul C. Jesup]

The reason why was Georgia threw out McKinney in the primary is because she is insane.

Now I am a white redneck and I plan on voting for Cain in the primary and if he wins that, I will vote for him in the election.

By the way, Cain openly states he wants to get rid of the IRS.

[CFW]

I'm a white 44 year old female. I'm voting for Cain. I don't think it is a white/black issue.

[Paul C. Jesup]

I don't think it is a white/black issue.

Neither do I, but some Yankees on FR think otherwise.

[madprof98]

I don't think there is any chance at all of Cain's getting a significant part of the black vote here. The very word "Republican" horrifies even well-educated people with good jobs. That's how completely brainwashed they've been.

[Paul C. Jesup]

Why don't you look up mine and CFW posts on this thread.

[madprof98]

I did read them, but the question at hand was whether Cain was likely to get a significant portion of the black vote. From the posts, I gather neither of you is a black voter.

[Paul C. Jesup]

I don't think you get the irony to this situation and your posts, you are bitching about a white redneck voting and supporting a black man.

[Paul C. Jesup]

By the way, that article was also talking about republicans in general.

[madprof98]

In comment #13, which seemed to set you off, I was responding to a previous comment by Amish. This is what he said:

Will be interesting to see if Cain can generate a strong black middle class cross over . . .

Sounds like you got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning.

[Paul C. Jesup]

No it sounds more like you are looking for a reason to exclude whites from this discussion because you don't like what they have to say.

[madprof98]

If you are so touchy about race that you can't bear to see it discussed, why did you inject a comment into an exchange between Amish and me?

It was a legitimate question to ask whether blacks in Georgia would support a black conservative. In my opinion, very few will do that. If you have a different opinion, I would be interested in hearing it. But if the very mention of race sets you off, then evidently you should not have said anything at all.