ATLANTA — Wednesday marked the triumphant return of short-lived 2012 front runner Herman Cain to the presidential campaign trail.
Cain, who has endorsed Donald Trump, spoke ahead of Trump's appearance at the Fox Theatre in downtown Atlanta.
"This sounds like a shucky-ducky kind of crowd on a shucky-ducky kind of day, here to support an awww-shucky ducky kind of candidate," he told people.
Cain was, in 2012, something of a proto-Trump. A pizza restaurant businessman and former regional fed chair, Cain was known for his outsize personality and campaigned on his inexperience in government. Cain had a shaky grasp on policy, making his 999 tax plan the mainstay of his candidacy, and once famously called Uzbekistan "Uz-beki-beki-bekistan."
Cain briefly led in the polls but his campaign unraveled after revelations of sexual harassment allegations against him.
Trump, meanwhile, has been criticized for his response to the Orlando shooting, challenged gun rights conservatives on Wednesday, and is facing a bevy of polling that shows his unfavorable rating spiking. On Wednesday, a new Washington Post/ABC News poll held that 94% and 89% of black and Latino voters, respectively, view Trump unfavorably.
In Atlanta on Wednesday, Cain offered a defense of Trump against accusations of racism, saying "I grew up in Atlanta Georgia. I know what a racist looks like when I see one. Donald Trump is not a racist."