Cain sees lack of experience as asset in 2012 Iowa caucus run

CEDAR RAPIDS – Herman Cain has an impressive track record as a businessman.

As CEO of Godfather's Pizza he turned around a company teetering on the brink of bankruptcy. That was after a successful career with Coca Cola and a stint as a VP at Pillsbury. He resigned that position to turn around the company's low-performing Burger King restaurants by starting at the bottom – broiling burgers.

When it comes to government experience, the Georgian's resume is thin. Blank, actually.

“In business, you need to learn the business from the ground up. Work in the trenches,” Cain said during a stop at the Linn County Republican Party's chili cook-off May 17. “You need to know how it works, learn a P and L, understand how inventory impacts it, learn how to manage people.

In politics, however, Cain said, the lack of experience, not knowing how Washington works, is not necessarily a bad thing.

If he knows too much, Cain, who said he was making his 16

^th

visit to Iowa, said, “Then I'll just become just like the other people who go to Washington.”

“My objective as president would be to change Washington, not become a part of Washington,” he explained, “and that's what the American people are looking for.”

Judging by his reception from about 200 people who attended the cook-off, that's the change they are looking for.

“He puts things in perspective,” said Mary Bowman of Cedar Rapids. “I sense honesty.”

Laura Zigrang, also of Cedar Rapids, senses problem-solving.

“We've elected a lot of government experience and it hasn't always worked out,” Zigrang said, “I think in this economy, someone with business experience has a better chance of turning things around.”

His appeal isn't limited to rank-and-file Republicans, according to Charlie “Tea Party Charlie” Gruschow of West Des Moines, who has signed on as Cain's Iowa field director.

Cain's positions on fiscal and social issues put him in good standing with the party's establishment as well as its more conservative members and appeals to conservative Democrats, too, according to Gruschow.

“His appeal is not as a politician,” Gruschow said. “He's a problem-solver and he tells it like it is. He's got a warming personality. He's got charisma and it's catching on. At the grass roots level, he's huge.”

Cain is scheduled to announce his final decision on a presidential bid May 21. If it's any indication of that decision, Cain has committed to a June 6 speaking engagement in Iowa City as part of the Family Leader's presidential lecture series. He'll speak at 5 p.m. at the University of Iowa in the Iowa Memorial Union ballroom, 125 N. Madison St., Iowa City.

For more on Cain, visit

www.hermancain.com.