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Black candidates must be especially image savvy to navigate the delicate contours of today鈥檚 racial politics. They must cultivate racial appeal, without provoking racial resentment, and expend their racial capital, without succumbing to the litany of stereotypes whites associate with them. We thought Barack Obama mastered this art, believing future black candidates must learn at his feet. But Republican presidential hopeful Herman Cain might prove more teacher than apprentice.

My co-author, Stephen Caliendo, and I analyzed over a thousand ads researching our recent book about racial appeals in US elections. We always returned to Mr. Cain鈥檚 2004 Senate ads. Two aspects of those ads demonstrate why Cain might be the Republican鈥檚 best salesman and contrast to his fellow black rival.

First, there鈥檚 only ever one person in a Herman Cain ad: Herman Cain.

The rugged individualist

Nothing says rugged individualism louder than a lone black man standing next to a bedrock image of his own name, exclaiming 鈥淚鈥檓 Herman Cain.鈥� Plenty of black candidates have pitched 鈥淚鈥檓 special because I鈥檓 black and accomplished鈥� to voters. Candidates as varied as Alan Wheat, J.C. Watts, Gary Franks, Carol Moseley Braun, and Barack Obama have held themselves out as portraits of black exceptionalism. But none has convincingly sold the up-from-my-bootstraps image more effectively than Cain.

Rival candidates touted distinctiveness on the one hand, but reveled in all the help they had on the other. They spoke of help from family, advisers, and benevolent, colorblind white voters.

鈥淲ho could鈥檝e dreamed that a poor black kid from Eufaula Oklahoma would grow up to be called Congressman?鈥� Mr. Watts asked in several of his 1996 ads, for example, before adding, 鈥渂ut after all, this is America.鈥�

鈥�Missouri gave me a chance to reach for my dreams,鈥� Mr. Wheat relishes in one of his Senate ads. Obama鈥檚 ads were chock full of people who helped him 鈥� law professors, legislative mentors, a multiracial band of brothers and sisters.

You don鈥檛 see these images and sentiments in Cain鈥檚 ads. Like the Marlboro man braving the wide-open plains, Cain presents himself as a solitary man, resting alone on his credentials, indebted to no one. He rarely invokes 鈥渦s鈥� and 鈥渨e,鈥� but speaks always of 鈥淚鈥� and 鈥渕e.鈥�

This is the image of pure individualism that conservatives like to see in all their candidates, and it is a prerequisite for its black ones.

Full-throated embrace of conservatism

But Cain couldn鈥檛 successfully sell his rugged individualism without a second distinction in his ads 鈥� his full-throated embrace of conservatism. 鈥淐onservative?鈥� Cain repeatedly asks. 鈥淵ou bet.鈥� He always answers, casually, as if to say, 鈥淲hy wouldn鈥檛 I be?鈥�

Such acceptance is advantageous for black candidates seeking Republican support; it鈥檚 as expedient as 鈥渓iberal鈥� is damaging to black Democrats.

Liberals are one thing; black liberals 鈥� a completely different beast. Candidates opposing blacks usually supplement the liberal label. Black candidates are 鈥渢oo liberal,鈥� 鈥渄angerously liberal,鈥� 鈥渆xtremely liberal,鈥� or, my favorite 鈥� 鈥渄angerously liberal with the truth鈥� (as Jesse Helms once described Harvey Gantt).

But Cain counters the black liberal stigma in one fell swoop. He stamped 鈥渃onservative鈥� across his political ads, making the label his badge of honor. You see, in today鈥檚 racial parlance, conservative is not only antithetical to being liberal; it is antithetical to being black, which is what you must be if you鈥檙e a black man looking for Republican votes.

Cain further showcases his conservative persona. In one such ad he recalls one of his greatest life lessons. 鈥淢y daddy always said, 鈥檇em that鈥檚 comin鈥�, get on the wagon, dems that ain't, get out the way.鈥� Cain鈥檚 quaint recollection taps into conservative nostalgia. They remind viewers that the good 鈥榦l days were not only simpler. They were days when folks like Cain鈥檚 daddy still spoke the broken English of their slave forebears, and tended the mules pulling those wagons.

With a few exceptions, Republicans have rejected black candidates. But in an ironic twist of fate, polls and anecdotal evidence show that Republicans鈥� best hope in 2012 just might be another black man. And among a group of conservatives for whom not just any black will do, Herman Cain not only fits the conservative bill; if he sticks to his 2004 strategy, he will show that he can effectively sell his counter-stereotypically conservative image to both Republican primary voters, as well as conservative-minded independents.

Charlton McIlwain, an associate professor of media, culture, and communication at New York University, is the author of 鈥淩ace Appeal: How Candidates Invoke Race in US Elections.鈥�