Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain has cast himself as the outsider, the pizza magnate with real-world experience who will bring fresh ideas to the nation's capital. But Cain's economic ideas, support and organization have close ties to two billionaire brothers who bankroll right-leaning causes through their group Americans for Prosperity.

Cain's campaign manager and a number of aides have worked for AFP, the advocacy group founded with support from billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch, which lobbies for lower taxes and less government regulation and spending. Cain credits a businessman who served on an AFP advisory board with helping devise his "9-9-9" plan to rewrite the nation's tax code. And his years of speaking at AFP events have given the businessman and radio host a network of grass-roots fans.

AFP tapped Cain as the public face of its "Prosperity Expansion Project," and he traveled the country in 2005 and 2006 speaking to activists who were starting state-based AFP chapters from Wisconsin to Virginia. Through his AFP work he met Mark Block, a longtime Wisconsin Republican operative hired to lead that state's AFP chapter in 2005. Block and Cain sometimes traveled together as they built up AFP: Cain was the charismatic speaker preaching the ills of big government; Block helped with the nuts and bolts.

When President Barack Obama's election helped spawn the Tea Party, Cain was positioned to take advantage. He became a draw at growing AFP-backed rallies, impressing activists with a mix of humor and hard-hitting rhetoric against Obama's stimulus, health care and budget policies.

Block is now Cain's campaign manager. Other aides who had done AFP work were also brought on board the campaign.

Cain's spokeswoman Ellen Carmichael, who recently left the campaign, was an AFP coordinator in Louisiana. His campaign's outside law firm is representing AFP in a case challenging Wisconsin campaign finance regulations. At least six other current and former paid employees and consultants for Cain's campaign have worked for AFP in various capacities.

And Cain has credited Rich Lowrie, a Cleveland businessman who served on AFP's board of advisers from 2005 to 2008, with being a key economic adviser and with helping develop his plan to cut the corporate tax rate to 9 percent, impose a national sales tax of 9 percent and set a flat income tax rate of 9 percent.

"He's got a national network now that perhaps he wouldn't have had 15 or 20 years ago because of his work with AFP," said Wisconsin Republican Vice Chairman Brian Schimming, who has introduced Cain at events in Wisconsin. "For a presidential candidate, that's obviously helpful to have."

While Cain is quick to promote his career at the helm of the Godfather's Pizza chain, his ties to AFP aren't something the candidate appears eager to highlight.

big money candidate,,,,,,

Cain is two of Obama..... in more ways than one!

You think things are bad now? Vote for this guy and we'll all be shopping at the Goodwill!

Cain is Cain, and I wont be voting for him ,

sounds like the koch bros want to be the "men behind the president"... maybe they are already are...

No insinuations M..... I saw your post before on Cain..... I was speaking in generalizations.

Have there been any other kind in the past 30 years?

it depends upon subjective interpretation of big money

for me, I look at the ratio of smaller donations (under 200)as a percentage of all money raised, to larger donations (over 1000)


Obama does pretty good in comparison to others
with a ratio of 30/43 in 2008

compared to mccains 21/60, or Romneys 8/79

Why would people donate to any of those guys? So we can have more of the same for 4 more years?

I donate to whom I feel BEST represents the type of country I want for myself and my family.

let me guess........Obama

you got it, along with a million like me...

As it is, I have to do my shopping from the dumpster behind Goodwill.

lol.......I wouldn't get so cocky just yet....the race has barely started.......and from what I read, Obama is losing ground due to the "OWS" crowd. Can't very well go against the people who are backing you.

Beware the Kochtopus!

Ive read alot too regarding the candidates, the OWS, the tea party and all the other news of the day regarding politics. Not getting cocky, just stating the facts. I donate to the campaign and a million others like me have too.

I somehow missed this last week: The Omaha World-Herald 's video of Herman Cain at the 1991 Omaha Press Club meeting/humiliationathon. Starting at 2:01, then-Godfathers Pizza CEO Herman Cain introduces his act. At 3:50, he starts singing.
The lyrics:
Imagine there's no pizza
I couldn't if I tried
Eating only tacos
Or Kentucky Fried
Imagine only burgers
It's frightening and sad
You're lucky you have pizza
To feed for kids for you
Only frosting or cookies
And no dishes you must do
Imagine eating pizza
Each and every day
You may say that it's junk food
But to me it's so much more
It gives my life its meaning
And it makes a lot of dough
Imagine mozzarella
Anchovies on the side
And maybe, pepperoni
Rounds out your pizza pie
Imagine getting pizza
Delivered to your door
You don't have to give up now
On my skateboard I will go
I'll be back in 30 minutes
I just bought Dominoes
All I am saying
Is give pizza a chance
All I am saying
Give pizza a chance!
All I am saying
Is give pizza a chance
All I am saying
You've got to, got to give pizza a chance!

The awful thing about this is that Godfather's Pizza is basically candy --the dough is so highly processed that it's the functional equivalent of eating frosting.
So Cain is the CEO of a company that shovels handsful of candy into children, trying to fool their parents into believing that it's nutritious food.
9-9-9

Perry, for instance, unsurprisingly gets substantial contributions from the oil and gas industry. Wall Street is investing heavily in Mitt Romney, as financial firms are the top industrydonor to his coffers. But the top category for donations to Herman Cain, as determined by the watchdog group Center for Responsive Politics , is simply listed as “retired.” Second is “miscellaneous business.”
If there is a pattern to Cain’s cash, it may be thatit comes from just folks. Fully half of the money he raised through the third quarter came from small individual donations. About 40 percent came from large individual donations. In contrast, the Romney campaign got only 10 percent of its money from small donations and90 percent from large donations.
It’s clear that in terms of geography Cain’s money base is in the South. The FEC has nifty interactive maps that show the amount individual candidates get from eachstate, and Cain’s biggest haul came from his homestate of Georgia . Texas is second, and Florida third.He did respectably in California , but got very little cash from the power corridors of New York.
Money remains the engine of campaigning, and if Cain is to have any chance of actually winning primaries, as opposed to winning polls, he’s likely going to have to get much more money for ads and get-out-the-vote efforts. Maybe he can link up with comedian Stephen Colbert , who has set up his own super PAC in an effort to publicize the absurdity of current campaign finance laws.
Back in July, Colbert joked that maybe he would pick Cain as his favorite candidate and funnel him Colbert super PAC cash.
The comedian’s reason?
“When it comes to presidential candidates I look first for an easily rhymed name,” said Colbert .