Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain is worth between $2.9 million and $6.6 million, according to personal financial disclosure documents obtained and examined by The Daily Caller.
Cain, a Georgia resident who was once CEO of the Godfather’s Pizza chain, has earned between $1.1 and $2.1 million in 2010 and 2011 combined.
His personal wealth had not previously been made public. The campaign plans to file financial documents disclosing the information with the Federal Election Commission by the end of this week, Ellen Carmichael, a spokeswoman for his campaign, said.
Precise numbers reflecting Cain’s and his wife’s assets are not available on the forms; instead, candidates are only required to classify each asset in a given range of numbers. Cain’s only listed liability is a line of credit with SunTrust Investment Services, worth between $100,000 and $250,000, which he paid off during the reported period.
It is well known that Cain is a wealthy businessman. After leaving Godfather’s, he was CEO of the National Restaurant Association and chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City.
Before announcing his run for president this year, Cain hosted a talk radio show. Cox Radio in Atlanta has paid him $165,183 in salary since January 2010. (ALSO ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL: Romney’s awkward ‘senior moment’)
The financial disclosure forms show that in 2010 and 2011 combined, Cain, who is also a member of several corporate boards, has so far received $120,000 in fees from Hallmark Cards and $202,500 from Agco Corporation, an agricultural heavy-equipment company based in Georgia. He also earned $359,008 from Whirlpool, a Michigan home appliance company, during the same time period.
The forms also reveal that Cain began receiving quarterly retirement payments from Hallmark during the third fiscal quarter of 2011. Those payments will continue for five years.
Earlier FEC filings show that Cain loaned his campaign $500,000. The financial disclosures obtained by TheDC do not mention this loan, although Cain does disclose a “note receivable” from Bell Research Companies in the $250,001–$500,000 range.
Although Cain has never held elective office, he has made his business background the centerpiece of his campaign, arguing that the country needs an entrepreneur — and not a politician — to take the reins in a time of economic distress.
Cain made a name for himself during the early televised GOP debates and is very popular within the tea party movement, but the entry of other conservatives in the race, particularly Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann and Texas Gov. Rick Perry, has hurt his ability to consolidate that support.
He placed fifth in the Iowa Staw Poll this month in Ames, Iowa, behind Bachmann, Texas Rep. Ron Paul, former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum. Pawlenty subsequently abandoned his presidential aspirations.
Cain’s campaign points to polls showing him doing better than fifth in the Hawkeye state, and to Gallup’s “positive intensity ranking” score — where Cain has scored the highest among GOP presidential candidates — as evidence that he still enjoys sufficient support to mount a serious bid for the White House.
TheDC’s David Martosko contributed reporting for this story.
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