The latest issue features a four-page profile on Herman Cain‘s presidential bid:
[N]ow the joke is on the Establishment. Surging in the polls nationally and in key primary states, and lifting voters from their seats with his rousing, sermon-style oratory, Herman Cain is roiling the 2012 presidential race. In New Hampshire, the main topic of conversation wasn’t about Romney’s economic plan or Perry’s Texas record. It was Cain’s catchy–some say gimmicky–“9-9-9” tax-reform plan, which would replace the tax code with a 9% flat tax on business and personal income, plus a national sales tax. “Therein lies the difference between me, the nonpolitician, and all of the politicians,” Cain said. “They want to pass what they think they can get passed rather than what we need, which is a bold solution. 9-9-9 is bold, and the American people want a bold solution.”
Conservative activists seem to want boldness, but they aren’t finding it in either Romney or Perry. So they have turned to the latest candidate offering the promise of a dramatic break from politics as usual. “He’s not a politician,” says Wayne Sommers of Greenwood, Del., after seeing Cain electrify a crowd of conservatives at the annual Values Voter Summit in Washington this month. “He’s real.”