I have to admit: Herman Cain is growing on me.

Herman Cain first came into the public's eye when he took exception (1994) to Bill Clinton's simpleton thinking about the effects of mandated health care increases to the bottom line of small business. . . . . . and, the man can [really] sing.



Besides the ability to sing (the above video), here are some of his qualification per Wikipedia. You just might be a little surprised at the depth of this man's background:

After completing his master's degree from Purdue, Cain left the Department of the Navy and began working for The Coca-Cola Company in Atlanta as a computer systems analyst. In 1977, he moved to Minneapolis to join Pillsbury, soon becoming director of business analysis in its restaurant and foods group in 1978.

At age 36, Cain was assigned in the 1980s first to analyze and ultimately to take the reins of Burger King, where he managed 400 stores in the Philadelphia area. At the time, Burger King was a Pillsbury subsidiary. Under Cain's leadership his region went, in three years, from the least profitable for Burger King to the most profitable. According to a 1987 account in the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Pillsbury's then-president Win Wallin said, "He was an excellent bet. Herman always seemed to have his act together." At Burger King, Cain "established the BEAMER program, which taught our employees, mostly teenagers, how to make our patrons smile" by smiling themselves. It was a success: "Within three months of the program's initiation, the sales trend was moving steadily higher."

His successes at Burger King prompted Pillsbury to appoint him president and CEO of another subsidiary, Godfather's Pizza. Cain arrived on April 1, 1986, and told employees, "I'm Herman Cain and this ain't no April Fool's joke. We are not dead. Our objective is to prove to Pillsbury and everyone else that we will survive." Aiming to cut costs, Cain, over a 14-month period, reduced the company from 911 stores to 420. As a result of his efforts, Godfather's Pizza became profitable[ In a leveraged buyout in 1988, Cain, Executive Vice-President and COO Ronald B. Gartlan and a group of investors, bought Godfather's from Pillsbury. Cain continued as CEO until 1996, when he resigned. Later in 1996 he became CEO of the National Restaurant Association, a trade group and lobby organization for the restaurant industry, where he had previously been chairman concurrently with his role at Godfather's Pizza. Cain became a member of the board of directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City in 1992 and served as its chairman from January 1995 to August 1996, when he resigned to become active in national politics.

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