BY MARK FALLATI

National election cycles are always frantic, and the 2012 presidential race is no different. Democrats are strategizing how to display President Barack Obama as the man who can save our country from further economic turmoil--at least for another four years. But for Republicans, the next few months will require some soul-searching on just what sort of ideological stances will become the face of the party for years to come. Certain candidates--particularly Herman Cain, who has recently emerged as a frontrunner--have been representing one rivaling faction but lack the necessary fact-backed proposals and political acumen to defeat an incumbent president just over a year from now.

It’s no surprise that the GOP internal conflict between traditional center-right conservatives and intense far-right luminaries is coming to a head. After the Democrats thoroughly annihilated Republicans in 2008, nearly capturing a supermajority in the Senate and claiming a clear majority in the House (not to mention taking back the White House), an opposition movement arose; it was full of disgruntled conservatives who saw a shining hope in ultra-conservative Sarah Palin’s vice-presidential nomination, but felt the direction of the party as a whole was becoming too moderate.

These people banded together and founded the Tea Party in hopes of giving their party a fresh face. Although the movement grew rapidly, it was seen as radical by the public eye, and the GOP establishment (which had deemed America a “center-right nation” during the 2008 election) was quick to distinguish itself from the Tea Party. The grassroots organization hasn’t drifted away, though, and Republicans are left searching for a candidate who can create some symbiosis between center-right and far-right voters, but niether side has been willing to budge on where it stands.

Only a highly skilled politician can bridge this fundamental gap. In the ‘60s, John Kennedy rallied a huge youth movement behind him to defeat a crafty Republican former vice president. This was a man named Richard Nixon, who was later elected to two terms at the nation’s helm. Ronald Reagan’s refreshing economic conservatism and focus on reducing the national debt, led him to win 91 percent of the electoral votes in defeating the incumbent, Jimmy Carter, in 1980.

There are a couple of people who have thrown their hats into the fast-spinning ring of Republican primaries that could garner that sort of support. But others are just in it in hopes of taking advantage of a house divided (and not the House of Representatives, which is largely divisive in itself). Anyone who has never been to a Godfather’s Pizza chain may not have yet been introduced to its CEO: Herman Cain, an African American and a clear fiscal conservative who has become a popular choice among more conservative Republicans. On Oct.17, a CNN poll had Cain placed in a tie with Mitt Romney, who has been the front-runner since the primary campaign cycle began in the spring. Analysts say Cain is feeling the residual effects of a conservative favorite, Texas Governor Rick Perry’s mistakes thus far.

That does not imply his campaign has been free of his own blunders. His economic proposals have been founded upon the idea of the “9-9-9” plan, an idea that would replace the federal tax code with a nine percent flat tax on income, sales and corporations. Intense conservatives that have been praising flat taxes for many years are championing Cain’s proposal for simplifying the grossly monstrous federal tax code. But in an appearance on the famous political talk show “Meet the Press,” host David Gregory grilled Cain on the nitty-gritty details, and exposed that the 9-9-9 plan would actually raise taxes for the poor and the middle-class while severely cutting taxes for the wealthy. At the same time, taking into account that our sales taxes are set by the state we live in, the institution of a federal sales tax would add onto our current sales taxes – so we would be paying over twice as much in taxes on everything we buy. These critical flaws have become and will continue to be attacking points for rival candidates as they try to expose Cain’s economic views.

The candidate has also been criticized for certain remarks on immigration. Republicans are well known for opposing illegal immigration, for the most part, and Cain is no exception. In a speech in Tennessee, he said he would “Build an electrified fence on the Mexican border that could potentially kill anyone trying to enter the country illegally.” But on an edition of “Meet the Press” which aired soon after the event, he told host David Gregory that he was just joking. Thinking logically, if the remark sincerely was a joke, it’s doubtful that Cain would have written and delivered such a serious speech on the topic.

Such mistakes are Cain taking the lumps for having never served in public office before. Many potential primary voters fed up with the spirit in Washington, appreciate that they can connect with an outsider willing to try to change the faults in government. But it has hurt him politically, as he is finding that his fellow candidates and the public at large are quick to critique every word he says. As the former CEO of a pizza chain and the former head of a Federal Reserve branch, Cain has limited political experience, if that. He once ran for the Senate, but lost in the primaries, and he served a brief presidential candidacy in 2000. Let’s be fair: we once had an outsider that came to the White House and made some pretty strong changes. But Ronald Reagan had previously served as governor of California for eight years – so he can’t really be considered an outsider to politics.

Herman Cain is still trying to get his feet wet in the political process, yet he has jumped headfirst into the primary campaign. Between making bold statements and harshly attacking his opponents (“I’m going after Romney,” he said before a GOP debate; “[President Obama’s] never been a part of the black experience in America,” he intoned in an interview), Cain has been in the news every moment since he initiated his campaign, and not always for his positive moments. A party’s presidential nominee is effectively the face of the party, and I find it hard to believe that Democrats or Republicans would support a pizza company executive with faulty economics and a running mouth representing their party.