By Steven R. Hurst
WASHINGTON (AP) – Republican presidential hopeful Herman Cain’s Iowa campaign chairman said Tuesday the candidate was reassessing his bid for his party’s nomination a day after an Atlanta businesswoman alleged she and Cain had a long extramarital affair.
Should he leave the race, the already topsy-turvy contest for the Republican nomination could become even more chaotic as the seven other candidates battle for Cain supporters with just over a month remaining before the first state-by-state contest to choose next year’s challenger to President Barack Obama.
Cain shot to the top of the Republican field in late September and early October with his folksy style and catchy “9-9-9” tax reform program. But he was never seen as the likely nominee, and his support began to crumble after publicity about alleged sexual harassment surfaced a month ago. He has also stumbled badly on important questions about U.S. foreign policy and had voiced ambiguous responses to questions about his stand on abortion, always a divisive issue in American politics.
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Cain has fiercely denied the affair as well as several other accusations of inappropriate sexual behavior that have surfaced over the past month, and he has repeatedly vowed to stay in the race. He told senior staff in a midmorning conference call lasting roughly 10 minutes that all public events will go forward this week but he will review the campaign’s strategy over the next several days.
One participant on the call, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the private nature of the conversation, said that as part of that assessment, Cain’s campaign is examining the impact of the newest allegations. This person described the tone as positive but also said there was some uncertainty coming from Cain.
“He said obviously it’s taken an emotional toll on his family, but he’s moving ahead with the campaign,” said Steve Grubbs, Cain’s campaign chairman in the Midwestern state of Iowa. “He said that they will be reassessing the campaign.”
Grubbs added: “He said this lady was a friend, someone he thought was a friend, that he was trying to help out financially and had been a friend for some period of time. But that nothing inappropriate occurred.”
“Yes,” said J.D. Gordon, Cain’s spokesman, when asked early Tuesday whether Cain is definitely staying in the race.
After the conference call, Cain attorney Linn Wood told The Associated Press: “Any report that Mr. Cain has decided to withdraw his candidacy is inaccurate.”
“I think they are assessing the situation, just as I would expect the campaign to do or any prudent business person to do,” said Wood. He added that he would hate to see what he described as false accusations drive Cain out of the race for the presidency.
As Cain’s troubles began sapping support, Newt Gingrich, a former speaker of the House of Representatives, has moved into first place ahead of Mitt Romney, according to a Real Clear Politics average of four national polls. Cain was in third place before the most recent allegations about his sexual behavior. Those first became known with allegations that Cain, a former pizza chain executive, sexually harassed women who worked for the National Restaurant Association when he ran the trade group in the 1990s.
Gingrich, who has seen his political standing rise as he has posted solid debate performances, has become the latest challenger to Romney, whose poll numbers have dipped slightly. Romney is the favorite of the Republican establishment but deeply distrusted by party conservatives and evangelical Christians who see his record as too moderate.
The Real Clear Politics average shows Gingrich with a 2.5 percentage-point edge over Romney. Gingrich has rebounded from his campaign’s near collapse this summer, when much of his staff resigned.
So far Rep. Michele Bachmann, Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Cain have made a serious run at Romney before falling from favor and quickly drifting out of contention as deeply conservative Republican primary voters search for an alternative to Romney, the former Massachusetts governor and venture capitalist. Beyond his moderate record, many conservatives view Romney as too ready to shift positions on issues held dear by the party’s base.
Gingrich, after focusing his fire on Obama, has begun attacking Romney, branding him as a political opportunist.
“We think there has to be a solid conservative alternative to Mitt Romney,” Gingrich said Monday.
The latest embarrassing claim against Cain erupted Monday when 46-year-old Ginger White said she and Cain, who is married, had a 13-year affair that ended shortly before he began his run for the nomination.
“It was fun,” said White, as she described in an interview with an Atlanta, Georgia television station how Cain had bought her plane tickets for a rendezvous in Palm Springs, California. “It was something that took me away from my sort of humdrum life at the time. And it was exciting.”
In her interview, White said she decided to come forward after seeing Cain attack his other accusers in an appearance on television.
White told the Atlanta TV station she expects to be scrutinized by Cain and the media.
Georgia court records show a series of judgments against White for not paying rent in Atlanta-area apartments, including one filed about two weeks ago. She also faced a libel suit as part of a larger business dispute with a former business partner.
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Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.