Welcome to Herman Cain's Moment

From Salon.com:

If you haven't noticed yet, a new candidate is rapidly climbing in Republican presidential polling. Last week, Herman Cain broke into double digits in a CNN poll of national GOP voters, and now a new PPP poll from the first-in-the-nation caucus state of Iowa find him tied for second place there with Sarah Palin, just six points behind Mitt Romney.

This raises an obvious question: How the [bleep] is this happening?

Cain, after all, came to the race with essentially no name recognition and only one failed, low-profile political campaign -- a bid for the Republican Senate nomination in Georgia in 2004 that he lost by 26 points -- under his belt. And while he does boast a fairly impressive business resume -- the CEO of Godfather's Pizza, a restaurant chain with about 500 franchises in the U.S., from 1986 to 2002 -- it's not as if he enjoys widespread acclaim as a corporate titan.

And yet, he's become a genuine sensation among politically engaged Republicans these past few weeks.

What's striking about Cain's rise is that we've seen candidacies like his before in the modern era, but they've never gained this kind of polling traction. In a way, he's a hybrid of two fringe candidates who sought the 1996 Republican nomination: Morry Taylor (because of their under-the-radar business backgrounds -- Taylor was the CEO of an Illinois tire company) and Alan Keyes (because of their political backgrounds -- Keyes had two losing (by wide margins) Senate campaigns to his name.

By spending $6 million of his own money, Taylor was able to buy himself some mainstream exposure; he was invited to most debates, advertised heavily on television, and received his share of newspaper and magazine profiles. Keyes had little money, but his powerful oratory and staunchly conservative social message attracted a cult following and also led to some news coverage and debate invitations (although there were occasions when he was not accorded this respect).

But neither Taylor nor Keyes ever made noise in national or early state polling. Keyes managed to grab 7 percent in the Iowa caucuses and 2 percent in New Hampshire. Taylor finished with well under 5 percent in both states. Four years later, Keyes ran again and did slightly better, finishing with 14 percent in Iowa -- a deceptively high total since John McCain had abandoned the state, leaving just George W. Bush, Steve Forbes, Keyes and Gary Bauer to divvy up the Iowa electorate.

Read more at Salon.com