Is Herman Cain, candidate for U.S. Senate, really just a guy who was born a poor black child, who then worked himself out of poverty into a smashing success as a CEO of Godfather's Pizza and other companies, and now he just wants to run to represent the people of Georgia in the U.S. Senate?

Not quite. Everything may be true up until the point where Herman tries to make himself out to be a humble candidate for U.S. Senate. After that point, the similarities between himself and Hillary Clinton become much clearer...and, they are not merely that both their first and last names start with an "H" and a "C".

Consider this timeline of events in Cain's life:

In 1995: In an interview with the Omaha World Herald (Date: September 10, 1995) Cain expressed no desire to move to Georgia, saying he "...'knows of no better place to live' and for his company [Godfather's Pizza] to be headquartered than in Omaha, Nebraska. 'And you can quote me on that,' Cain said."

In 1997: Cain backed Democrat Brenda Council's challenge to Omaha Republican Mayor Hal Daub, and, in the process, making Nebraska GOP leaders quite unsettled about his dedication to the Republican Party (Source: Omaha World Herald, December 14, 1998)

In 1998: From the December 14, 1998 edition of the Omaha World Herald:

"As far as me not running for Senate [in Nebraska], it's a final decision," Cain said Sunday. "But I am giving some consideration to running for the presidency [in 2000]. I probably will make my mind up by the middle of next year."

In 1998: From the October 5, 1998 edition of Nation's Restaurant News, with special emphasis by the PV on truly remarkable statements by Cain:

"The notion [to run for U.S. Senate in Nebraska] is a rush," Cain admitted. 'It's a very prestigious thing to conceive. But my motivation for running for Senate was not for the stature of being a senator, but because I wanted to make a difference on issues I feel passionate about.'

"After meeting with political consultants and past and present senators, Cain said he had determined that while he has very strong and distinct opinions about business-related matters, he is less clear-cut in his stances on social issues and was not ready to appease voters by taking stands on those issues.

"'Too many people in the electorate are single-issue voters,' he commented, 'and to try and cater to the single-issue voters and the single-issue pockets out there felt like I was compromising my beliefs. As an example, with the pro-life and pro-abortion debate, the most vocal people are on the ends. I am pro-life with exceptions, and people want you to be all or nothing.'

[Cain added] "I am not a social-issue crusader. I am a free-enterprise crusader."

In 1999: Cain contemplates running for President, even going so far as to establish the Omaha, Nebraska-based Citizens for Cain Exploratory Committee, and ends-up filing a statement with the FEC for "Cain for President, Inc." to run against George W. Bush (Source: FEC Website).

Here's some analysis from Louis Jacobson in the March 6, 1999 edition of The National Journal:

"If he runs, Cain says he will advocate market-oriented reforms of health care and Social Security, plus a simpler and fairer tax system. Each of these issues ranks high on the GOP's economic agenda.

"But unlike many in his party, Cain opposes school vouchers for private schools and backs efforts only to 'revisit,' not eliminate, affirmative action. He declined to give his position on abortion rights. In the primaries, Cain's moderate social stances could pose problems."

In 1999: When his own run against Bush fizzled, Cain endorsed Steve Forbes, who was (and, likely, still is) known to be quite moderate on the abortion issue and continued his anti-Bush campaign, saying that by electing Bush, Republicans will have "shortchanged ourselves as a party." (Source: Conservative News Service, July 1, 1999)

Year 2000: After moving to Georgia in early 2000, Cain becomes a Georgia voter. Cain finally gets around to registering to vote in Georgia on September 11th of 2000. (Source: Henry County Board of Elections)

Years 2000-2003: Cain demonstrates no partisan political activity in Georgia.

2003: Herman Cain becomes a Georgia Senate candidate. "Herman Cain, a 57-year-old businessman, motivational speaker and author is apparently entering the GOP primary, the fourth candidate to do so." (Source: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, May 29, 2003).

Where has Cain raised his funds?

The Center for Responsive Politics has released an analysis of fundraising in the Republican Primary for Georgia’s open U.S. Senate seat. It shows that Mac Collins and Johnny Isakson have only raised about 10% of their funds from out of state. By contrast, Cain has raised over 70% of his funds from out of state.

Of the top ten zip codes on Cain’s reports, only three are in Georgia. Others include Houston, TX, Paradise Valley, AZ, and Saint Joseph, MI. Also appearing twice is Omaha, NE.

The top ten zip codes in Isakson’s report are all located in Atlanta, Marietta, Roswell and Alpharetta. Similarly, Collins contributors are heavily concentrated among the counties south of Atlanta that he has represented for years.

PV's Analysis: It is extremely ironic that for the latter part of the 1990s, Herman Cain considered himself quite the moderate on the abortion issue, going so far as to state that he was "pro-life with exceptions." Hmm...what exceptions? Could those exceptions be the same exceptions that Cain is currently flogging Isakson over?

In fact, we suspect that, until Cain entered the Senate race in Georgia and was told that he had to take these extreme stances on abortion, that he probably agreed 100% with Isakson's positions on abortion, and supported his votes.

But Cain, like so many other "do-anything-for-an-endorsement" politicians before him, agreed to modify his position for political expediency. We suspect that every day that Cain spends hammering Isakson on votes, Cain has to lock himself into a room and flog himself for those very same positions he held until he decided to sell-out his own moral views to fit the abortion views of the special abortion interests in this state.

We would be willing to bet some moolah that the fundraising by Cain outside of Georgia is from people who don't hold his political view on abortion, and, if they discovered the kind of race and the platform he was REALLY running on, they would not be giving him money (anyone in Cain's camp wanna pony-up to the betting table?).

The fact is, if the view on abortion by the GRTL ("Georgia Right To Life") is what you use to judge a candidate, then, seriously, Mac Collins has more consistently held that view for the last 10 years of his service in Congress than Herman Cain has for the last 1.5 years. That's right. One and one-half years. That's the only public record anyone has of Cain's stance on abortion that is significantly different from Johnny Isakson's.

It must be some sort of psychological trick that people like Cain play on themselves to cause them to become the most vocal and act the most self-righteous on an issue that they themselves are just as guilty of (if not more so because they are dishonest about it, both with themselves and with the public), than the target they are focused most on beating-up.

Cain is a charlatan on a number of Republican issues, as evidenced by the record of his own statements with the afore-mentioned newspaper articles, his support of Steve Forbes, and his slap at then-candidate George W. Bush in 1999.

He wasn't in favor of school vouchers in the late 1990s...how will he vote on them if a bill is presented in Congress?

He wasn't in favor of doing away with affirmative-action programs that treat one class of people special and discriminate against another class of people, so what WOULD happen if a bill was introduced in Congress on that issue? Hmmmmmm...

He accuses Johnny of being "pro-abortion" when he himself held those very same views not 4 years ago. Heck, Cain probably held those positions on abortion when he announced to run in 2003. It wasn't until his Washington, D.C. and Georgia consultants beat him over the head about how he had to position himself in Georgia if he wanted a shot at winning.

His track record of dabbling in the Nebraska senate race and in the 2000 presidential race reminds us a lot of people like Hillary Clinton who just want to be elected to anything from anyplace, just for the right to serve their own ego.

Again, if the GRTL's views on abortion match yours, then you should be voting for Mac Collins. Of the two endorsed by the GRTL, Collins has the longest, documented record of his abortion beliefs and is, therefore the one most intellectually honest about his position on abortion.