Herman Cain sounds off on race, a debate win, and the need to simplify government

Herman Cain: 'They're Going to Come After Me More Viciously Than They Would a White Candidate'

STOCKBRIDGE, Ga. (By Byron York, Washington Examiner) - Herman Cain's handsome glass-walled office overlooks the first fairway of the Eagle's Landing Country Club in this exurb of Atlanta, about 20 miles south of Hartsfield Airport. It is here that the 65-year-old Cain planned to spend what he calls his "cruise control" years -- time spent not exactly in retirement, but at an easier pace than a business career that included stints as CEO of Godfather's Pizza, president of the National Restaurant Association, and chairman of the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank.

"Cruise control" it's not. These days, or at least this moment, Herman Cain, long a favorite of Tea Party activists, is one of the hottest names in the Republican primary race. For most of the party, Cain wasn't even a blip on the radar until the May 5 GOP debate in Greenville, South Carolina -- or, more accurately, the moments after the debate, when Republican pollster Frank Luntz conducted a focus group on Fox News and found near-unanimous agreement that Cain was the winner. "I've done maybe 35 or 40 of these debates for Fox, and I've never had this kind of reaction," Luntz said. "Something very special happened this evening."

Many political insiders viewed the debate mostly as an opportunity for former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty to move up into the first tier of GOP candidates. Instead, people left Greenville's Peace Center talking about Herman Cain -- a result that few participants, including Cain himself, could have predicted.