Cain campaigns as harassment allegations build
WASHINGTON (AP) - Meanwhile, a new poll indicated that Cain remained in strong position in the Republican Party nomination race despite the disclosures...
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain’s attempt to get his campaign back on track after dealing with sexual harassment allegations faces a new obstacle: the possible release of a statement from one of his accusers.
Cain, a surprise leader in the Republican contest for a candidate to oppose President Barack Obama, has spent the week responding to reports that he had been accused of sexually harassing women while he headed a restaurant trade group in the 1990s.
None of the three women has come forward publicly. Two of them had received payments from the group that bar them for discussing the matter, but one of them now is seeking permission to release a statement giving her side of the story.
Meanwhile, a new poll indicated that Cain remained in strong position in the Republican Party nomination race despite the disclosures.
WATCH REV. AL SHARPTON’S COVERAGE OF THE CAIN CAMPAIGN CRISIS:
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After a day in New York largely shielded from media attention, Cain will step back into public view in Washington for a speech Friday to Americans for Prosperity, a conservative group aligned with the small-government, anti-tax tea party movement.
With the harassment allegations dominating the political news, Cain’s rivals have struggled to get their messages across.
Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, who has been at the top of the polls along with Cain, was looking to get back in the headlines with his speech to the same tea party gathering that Cain is addressing.
Romney planned to release his latest proposals to cut federal spending. Romney has had trouble winning over conservative tea party supporters, and his plan will not go as far as some would like. But he says he would cut $500 billion in his first term as president. Like other candidates, his targets include foreign aid.
Federal spending is a core issue as Republican vie for the nomination to take on Obama in 2012. The president, whose poll numbers have been rising lately, is seen as vulnerable because the U.S. economy continues to sputter and the federal deficit has been exploding.
Cain’s Washington event was scheduled well before damaging sexual harassment accusations from his time as head of the National Restaurant Association emerged earlier this week.
The address is the latest in a series of regular campaign appearances Cain has held even as he’s offered ever-changing explanations about the allegations.
“As of today,” Cain said hopefully on Thursday, “we’re back on message and we’re going to stay on message, and we’ve answered all of these questions.”
But Cain’s Washington appearance will put him in the spotlight as the restaurant trade association is set to decide whether to allow one woman who accused Cain of sexual harassment to publicly address the allegations, despite an agreement that prevented her from talking.
Joel Bennett, an attorney for one of the women alleging sexual harassment, said Thursday he was seeking permission from the National Restaurant Association to release a statement on her behalf.
The latest poll — a Washington Post-ABC News survey — showed Cain and Romney running nearly even atop the field of Republican hopefuls, with most Republicans dismissing the harassment allegations. Seven in 10 Republicans say reports of the allegations don’t matter when it comes to picking a candidate.
But in a sign of the possible danger ahead, the poll found that Cain slipped to third place among those who see the allegations as serious, and Republican women were significantly more likely than men to say the scandal makes them less apt to support the businessman.
The survey found that support for Cain was basically steady over the four nights of interviewing, even as new allegations against him surfaced.
His campaign has been arguing that he’s benefiting from the controversy.
Cain has hired at least one more national finance staffer since Sunday, when the allegations first surfaced. His national finance team planned a meeting Friday morning in Washington to discuss strategy as it looks to broaden a grassroots fundraising base that’s so far been driven by small online donations — including more than $1.2 million in contributions since Sunday.
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Associated Press writer Kasie Hunt contributed to this report.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.
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