Jack Kemp called Herman Cain the "Colin Powell of the restaurant industry." In the '80s he took over 450 underperforming Burger Kings and turned them around. He bought a chain of pizza restaurants, Godfather's Pizza, and he took them from red to black just before he bought them out.
Now Cain, 65, has entered the 2012 presidential campaign. Can the food-industry entrepreneur be successful in politics?
His first political appearance wasn't until 1994 at one of Bill Clinton's town halls on health care. There, he challenged Clinton's health care bill, and was then called one of the "real saboteurs" of health reform by Newsweek. But Cain has never held public office. He ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate in Georgia.
Is he serious about the campaign? Absolutely.
Read more about Cain's story at the Daily Beast.
In other news: Michael Steele's RNC Regime Ends.