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Herman Cain Uses Numerology to Court Key Baseball Fan Demographic

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.