WI: Herman Cain, Senator from Georgia

In 2004, when Zell Miller retired, Herman Cain ran for the Republican nomination for Senate. He ran against fellow Republicans Johnny Isakson and Mac Collins, and both Cain and Collins hoped to deny Isakson a majority and thus force him into a run off. Cain came in second with 26.2% of the vote, but because Isakson won 53.2% of the vote, there was no runoff. Cain thus did not become the nominee, nor the Senator from Georgia.

But what if Cain and Collins managed to steal away enough votes from Isakson to force the run off? Could Cain have won?

And what if Cain did indeed manage to become Senator from Georgia in 2004?
 
If we reduce the butterflies, I could almost see McCain picking Cain as his running mate over Palin in 2008... if it weren't for the extreme awkwardness of the name of the ticket.

McCain/Cain?
 
Or, considering how he knows very little about policy and has a habit of embarrassing himself, a far weaker position.
 
I actually voted for Cain in that election. I can't remember why--I suspect, given the timing, it had to do with the Patriot Act or the Iraq War.
 
It's very hard to see Cain getting past a runoff. I think the only way is Isakson getting caught in some "live boy/dead girl" scenario or inexplicably dropping dead in the dwindling days of the race. There's no evidence to suggest that either is remotely plausible. This really has little to do with Cain, but the fact that Isakson was aruguably better qualified (he was serving in the House at the time) and had strong backing from fundamentalists.
 
I believe if Cain had made it to the General election many of the skeletons that are coming out of his closet now would have come out. If they didn't keep him from winning I beleive they would continue to have enough life to keep him from having a reasonable chance at a National (Presidential) campaign

Of course part of his problem now is that he doesn't seem to realize that he doesn't get to decide what the media and voters consider to be important. He doesn't seem to understand that it isn't his choice whether he wants to answer a question or not if the media doesn't get the answers then he gets painted as hiding something
 
One thing this would do is make African-Americans more influential in politics. (Cain would have faced Denise Majette, best known for taking Cynthia McKinney's seat.) This would make TWO Senate races in which one African-American was running against another that year. If Cain wins, I can see pressure for him to challenge Obama in 2008...
 
If, and it is a really really big if, sex scandals and political clueless defeats Republican Senate nominee Herman Cain Then there is one more Democrat in the Senate to preserve the filibuster proof margin. The Bush Tax Cut is repealed in the lame duck session of 2010. We have a much lower defiect now.
 
If, and it is a really really big if, sex scandals and political clueless defeats Republican Senate nominee Herman Cain Then there is one more Democrat in the Senate to preserve the filibuster proof margin. The Bush Tax Cut is repealed in the lame duck session of 2010. We have a much lower deficit now.
That would be Denise Majette, who defeated Cynthia McKinney in part from Republican crossover votes...and who ran for the Senate because God told her to.
 
That would be Denise Majette, who defeated Cynthia McKinney in part from Republican crossover votes...and who ran for the Senate because God told her to.

It may be stretching things, but if Cain's campaign is really, really disastrous, she might win, or at least force the NRSC to bail him out, which might cause some butterflies. And knowing him, it might stand a chance of being really, really disastrous.
 
Top