Herman Cain running for U.S. Senate in Georgia

Atlanta restaurateur Herman Cain recently filed as a candidate for the U.S. Senate representing Georgia and must now beat two sitting congressmen and another Black businessman to get the Republican nomination in 2004.

Cain, 57, who once ran the Omaha, NE-based Godfather's Pizza chain, has never run for office before, but is fighting to win Zell Miller's Senate seat.

As a U.S. senator Cain says that he will "be a voice of common sense, a voice for what's right with our nation, and a voice for making this nation even better for all its citizens."

The race is the first statewide election in post-Reconstruction Georgia to pit two Black Republicans against each other. Cain will face fellow Black Atlanta businessman Al Bartell, who ran unsuccessfully for lieutenant governor last year. White congressmen Johnny Isakson and Mac Collins are also candidates.

"He feels he has a lot to offer the people of Georgia," says Alex St. James, director of the African-American Republican Leadership Council in Washington. "He's a very qualified, winnable candidate."

A graduate of Morehouse College, Cain worked for Burger King as a regional vice president and at the Pillsbury Co. as vice president of corporate systems and services before he took the helm of the struggling Godfather's Pizza chain in 1986. Within two years the restaurant was out of debt, and Cain bought the pizza chain from Pillsbury for $50 million.

His resume includes a short time as chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank in Kansas City, MO, and as cochairman of Steve Forbes' 2000 presidential bid. Cain is currently president and CEO of T.H.E., Inc., a business/leadership consulting company specializing in keynote speaking and inspirational books and recordings.