Herman Cain

If it has accomplished nothing else, the tea party insurgency has made Republicans vastly more newsworthy than Democrats. While the party of the left plods along performing the boring old tasks of governing, the party of the right is engaged in high drama worthy of Shakespeare. The latest plot twist comes from Nebraska, where three conservatives have been vying to be the GOP's nominee for the U.S. Senate. The "establishment" candidate, state Atty. Gen. Jon Bruning is, by traditional measures, a conservative.

Fox News announced Friday that it has hired Herman Cain, the spirited former presidential candidate and ex-pizza CEO, as a contributor for Fox News Channel and Fox Business Network. Cain joins former Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown as the latest addition to the network, which has shuffled its supporting cast in the wake of last year's presidential election. Bill Shine, Fox News' executive vice president of programming, said in a statement that Cain “brings an important voice to the nation's debates,” framing him as a “political expert with business savvy.” Cain heralded his own hiring in the same statement.

Reporting from Charleston, S.C. -- Under the looming live oaks at the College of Charleston on Friday, Stephen Colbert delivered a clinic on how to produce a whiz-bang political rally. Significantly, not one of the Republican candidates this year has exhibited the star power to bring off such an extravaganza themselves. Thousands of students packed into the old college's walled central yard. Many had waited for hours to see Colbert and they cheered wildly when the comedy genius from Comedy Central marched in. Cheerleaders and a marching band led the way. A gospel choir was poised to sing with Colbert onstage.

As a kid, I was always disappointed at Halloween when a simple "trick or treat" was met by a well-meaning neighbor with a Bible tract in lieu of candy. Sure, I was raised in a churchgoing family, but Halloween was for indulging in sugar, not soul-saving, of all things. How I wish now that I had made good on those "trick" threats if I didn't get the treat I wanted. They were warned. This is what popped into my mind after reading at LAist about the impromptu concertos of the world's smallest violins being played at restaurants across California.

Desperate to blunt the onslaught of Mitt Romney's attack machine and survive a likely loss in the Florida Republican primary, Newt Gingrich is branding Romney as a Massachusetts liberal and proclaiming himself the only true champion of Ronald Reagan conservatism. He's got Sarah Palin rooting - - or should I say “rootin' ” - - for him. B-movie tough guy Chuck Norris is in his camp. Herman Cain, who shares Newt's penchant for quirky ideas and marital elasticity, has endorsed him. And Reagan's elder son, Michael, a right-wing radio host, is campaigning at his side.

At a packed political forum at Morehouse College — Atlanta's storied and historically black school for men — a moderator posed a question that cut to the sensitive heart of things on a campus that has produced Martin Luther King Jr. (Class of '48) and current GOP darling Herman Cain (Class of '67). The question: "Does Cain represent the modern Renaissance man of Morehouse?" A charged murmur rippled through a crowd of about 100 undergraduates. Traditional African American notions of social justice are part of the very DNA of Morehouse, founded in 1867 to educate recently freed slaves.

Fox News announced Friday that it has hired Herman Cain, the spirited former presidential candidate and ex-pizza CEO, as a contributor for Fox News Channel and Fox Business Network. Cain joins former Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown as the latest addition to the network, which has shuffled its supporting cast in the wake of last year's presidential election. Bill Shine, Fox News' executive vice president of programming, said in a statement that Cain “brings an important voice to the nation's debates,” framing him as a “political expert with business savvy.” Cain heralded his own hiring in the same statement.

Herman Cain, the insurgent populist whose candidacy has been ensnared by allegations of sexual impropriety, said Saturday that he is leaving the race for the Republican presidential nomination, saying that the allegations have cast a "cloud of doubt over me and this campaign. " "As of today, with a lot of prayer and soul searching, I am suspending my presidential campaign," he said at an event in Atlanta. "I am suspending my presidential campaign because of the continued distraction, the continued hurt . . . on me, on my family, not because we are not fighters, not because I am not a fighter.

Herman Cain has said he was "po'" before he was poor. But he's not anymore. According to recently certified financial disclosure forms, the former pizza chain executive has an estimated net worth of somewhere between $2.9 million and $6.8 million.   The disclosure forms, which are required of all presidential candidates, show that Cain has benefited from his business acumen with investments in corporations such as Whirlpool and Coca-Cola. And he's been paid six-figure salaries for sitting on the boards of Whirlpool, Hallmark Cards and agricultural concern Agco.

As Herman Cain heads home for his first face-to-face meeting with wife Gloria since he was accused earlier this week of a 13-year extramarital affair, his campaign has launched “Women for Herman Cain,” an “online national fellowship of women dedicated to helping elect Herman Cain.” The new Web page, which appears to have been added to Cain's campaign website late last night, offers a forum for people to voice their support for the Republican...

TAMPA, Fla. - Defeated Republican presidential candidates Michele Bachmann and Herman Cain told a Tea Party Unity rally here Sunday night that the conservative movement they championed in the primary election season has lost none of its power and will be fully engaged in the fall campaign to defeat President Obama. Bachmann told the rally of about 1,200 tea party activists gathered at the River Church  that they had “already won” by forcing the Republican Party to adhere closely to the activists' goals of small government and reduced taxes.

Reince Priebus, the chairman of the Republican National Committee, has such a dirty job that it's a wonder the Discovery Channel's Mike Rowe isn't following him around with a camera crew. Priebus, after all, has to serve as the apologist for Rep. Allen West of Florida, a "tea party" favorite who, with such unintentionally entertaining gaffe-sters as Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain and Newt Gingrich out of the spotlight, is now the GOP's reigning clown prince of umbrage-generating outrageousness.

Fred Karger failed. There were 20 Republican presidential debates and not one featured the California political-strategist-turned-openly-gay-White-House-hopeful, although he came close - or at least should have - to qualifying for a session last summer, if only Fox News hadn't changed the rules. Or so he says. The Federal Election Commission, after reviewing Karger's complaint, disagreed and found no evidence of wrongdoing. Karger returned this week from a campaign swing through Utah to find the FEC response in a pile of mail at his home in the Hollywood Hills.

Herman Cain is going back on the air. The pizza entrepreneur turned talk-show host turned presidential candidate turned unlikely tax policy advocate is turning back into a talk-show host. Cain is set to replace Neal Boortz on Atlanta's News/Talk WSB. Boortz announced Monday that after 20 years of hosting “The Neal Boortz Show," he's giving up the microphone in January. The libertarian-leaning host has more than 6 million weekly listeners, according to WSB, and is known as the "the high priest of the church of the painful truth.

If it has accomplished nothing else, the tea party insurgency has made Republicans vastly more newsworthy than Democrats. While the party of the left plods along performing the boring old tasks of governing, the party of the right is engaged in high drama worthy of Shakespeare. The latest plot twist comes from Nebraska, where three conservatives have been vying to be the GOP's nominee for the U.S. Senate. The "establishment" candidate, state Atty. Gen. Jon Bruning is, by traditional measures, a conservative.

WASHINGTON - Upstart state Sen. Deb Fischer triumphed in Nebraska's bitterly contested Republican primary for U.S. Senate on Tuesday night, winning the right to face Democrat Bob Kerrey in November. The race had become a high-profile showdown among tea party leaders, who split their support among three candidates. The seat being vacated by Democrat Ben Nelson is considered the GOP's best opportunity for a Senate pickup this fall. Former GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin had endorsed Fischer last week, giving the little-known rancher from the Sandhills region a boost.

After spending more than a week defending himself against mounting allegations of sexual harassment, you'd think Herman Cain might try not to appear condescending toward women. Or, that after announcing during a televised debate that "Princess Nancy" blocked Congress from taking up a Republican healthcare bill, his campaign might hope the comment would fade away. Nope, not the Herman Cain campaign. Moments after Cain uttered the comment, this popped up on the candidate's official Twitter page, THEHermanCain: "The answer to Health Care: HR3000, the bill killed by 'Princess Nancy' in committee.

Herman Cain's not going anywhere. At least for now. A day after reports had his presidential campaign “reassessing” the future after an Atlanta woman claimed that she had a long-term affair with the candidate, Cain delivered a defiant speech at an event in Dayton, Ohio, that showed no indication he is close to quitting. Instead, as he has done with increasing frequency while his campaign has been rocked by recurring allegations of sexual impropriety, Cain suggested that he is a victim of greater forces, of an unidentified conspiracy that's trying to keep him from the White House.

If you believe Rep. Alan West (R-Fla.), there are upwards of 78 to 81 members of the Communist Party sitting in Congress within the Democratic Party, an accusation that riled his colleagues and has drawn criticism from the accused. During a town hall event in Jensen Beach, Fla., on Tuesday night, West addressed a member of the audience who asked about how many members of the Democratic Party are “card-carrying Marxist Socialists,” and made a bold claim about his coworkers in the Capitol.

Herman Cain, who at one point was in the lead of the Republican presidential primary, has been trying to land back in the spotlight since dropping out of the race in December. His latest venture, Sick of Stimulus, intended to bring attention to the alleged wasteful excess of President Obama's stimulus packages. Instead, by showing a rabbit being shot out of the air, it ended up attracting the attention ofYouTube's moderators. Sick of Stimulus' ad, simply titled " Rabbit ," puts America's small businesses in the titular role, right before a girl places the rabbit into a catapult and launches it into the air, where it's soon shot to bits.