GOP Presidential candidate Herman Cain has resorted to one of the oldest divine arts, numerology, in his attempt to claim the White House in 2012. Cain's widely discussed 9-9-9 plan, while superficially having something to do with taxes, has given his campaign a boost thanks to the symbolic power of the numbers involved. By tapping into the psyche of baseball fans, Cain has vaulted to the top of the polls.
Consider:
- Baseball games have nine innings.
- Baseball teams have nine players in the field.
- Baseball teams have nine players in the lineup.
- 9-9-9 = 9+9+9 = The number of outs in a baseball game.
- 9-9-9 gives you an outfield trio of Ted Williams, Reggie Jackson, and Roger Maris, all number 9s.
- Roy Hobbs was number nine.
- Cain's surge has coincided with the dramatic final week of the season and the beginning of the postseason.
Did somebody just open a window? Because I just felt a chill.
The simplicity of the 9-9-9 message has had an incantatory effect on seamheads. They don't consciously understand the appeal, but they feel the pull. As baseball interest reaches a crescendo with the World Series later this month, expect Cain's surge to continue. While this interest may fade as fall turns to winter, 9-9-9 could be a game-changer in the fall of 2012, should Cain win the GOP nomination. The 2012 pennant races and postseason will lead nearly all the way to November's Election Day.