Herman Cain: 10 Important Things to Know

Herman Cain is red hot. After winning the Florida Straw Poll, the Republican candidate for president has surged to the top of many polls in recent weeks. Yet perhaps because Cain, a former Godfather's Pizza CEO has never held an elected office, many American's profess they don't know much about him.

Thus, here are 10 important things to know about Herman Cain, a GOP presidential race front-runner, courtesy of tidbits found in his new autobiography published last week, This is Herman Cain! (Threshold Editions):

1) Cain cuts his own hair. The practice began after Cain graduated from college, and after America's civil rights legislation had just become law. He was in Virginia. He went to the barbershop. The barbershop said it didn't cut black people's hair. Cain left. He bought some scissors. He cut his own hair. And he still does to this day.

2) Cain doesn't think he is politically correct. In other words, Cain says he will speak his mind, whether it's a popular opinion or not. (Maybe his recent bashing of the Occupy Wall Street movement is a prime example?)

3) Cain's mother was a maid. His father also worked three jobs at once for years, and was the private chauffeur to Robert Woodruff, the powerful Coca-Cola CEO.

4) Cain isn't a big reader. He's also not much of a writer, judging by his book. But Cain gets credit for writing the book himself, without a ghostwriter -- a notable accomplishment.

5) Cain, the former Godfather's Pizza CEO (who has never been elected to public office), says that the best way to determine if a pizza place is good, just order the all-meat pizza. If it tastes too salty, then the ingredients are too cheap. That's one of the little keys to understanding 'Pizzaology,' Cain writes in his book.

6) Cain is a numbers man. His favorite is 45, the year in which he was born -- and a man of God: Cain says God was watching over him in 2006 when he had nearly a third of his colon and part of his liver removed during cancer surgery. Totally cancer-free now, Cain says the J symbol left by the surgeon was a sign that Jesus was watching over him.

7) Cain doesn't believe unions always act in the best interests of the nation. The desire of unions to make unsustainable demands on local, state, and federal government, irrespective of the devastating impact, is totally illogical, not to mention showing a collective disregard for the taxpayer, Cain said.

8) Cain thinks that anyone who messes with Israel is messing with the United States of America. Don't mess with us, he writes. Don't mess with us. Is that real clear?

9) Cain doesn't like bureaucracy. He wants to unbundle the mess of red tape in education from the national level to the local level, and reduce regulations tangling businesses at the federal level.

10) Cain is from Atlanta, and he appreciates Southern fare. He knows the meal he wants on his deathbed, for example. It's a fork-tender roast, collard greens, green beans, candied yams, hand-shucked corn, and homemade cornbread.