Pizza Baron Cain Surges to Top of GOP Pile

Say hello to Herman Cain, the godfather of pizza and a stubborn thorn in the side of Mitt Romney.

We haven't devoted much ink to the ongoing race for the Republican presidential nomination, but a new poll from NBC/Wall Street Journal has Herman Cain, a pizza baron, leading supposed frontrunner Mitt Romney by four percentage points. The poll puts Cain, a Georgian who was the CEO of Godfather's Pizza, at 27 per cent support among Republican voters, followed by Romney at 23 per cent, Texas' executor in chief, Rick Perry, at 16 per cent, and libertarian congressman Ron Paul at 11 per cent. Just two months ago, Cain was basically unknown outside his home state, but Republican voters have taken a shine to him due to his simple messaging and unwillingness to say overtly stupid or hateful things. His 9/9/9 proposal, which would freeze corporate, income, and sales tax rates at nine per cent each, has been particularly popular among the GOP faithful. While we're not putting too much faith in this one poll, should Cain somehow wrest the nomination away from Romney or Perry, it would mark the first time in U.S. history that the two presidential candidates are both African-American.