Herman Cain informed his aides on Tuesday that he was going to reassess his campaign for presidency after yet another woman stepped forward with allegations of improper sexual conduct. Cain said that the accusations created too much of a cloud around his campaign. He has acknowledged the turmoil the allegations have caused and will only stay on schedule for the next few days.

“If a decision is made, different than to plow ahead, you all will be the first to know,” Cain stated. This is the first time since accusations of inappropriate sexual conduct began that Cain has reconsidered being a part of the presidential race. On Tuesday morning, however, a spokesperson for the campaign explicitly said that Cain would not drop out of the race.

Ginger White, a Georgian woman, came forward with allegations of a 13 year extramarital affair with Cain. The potential presidential candidate denied this, just like he had denied previous accusations of sexual harassment from other women. “It was just a friendship relationship,” he claimed.

“That being said, obviously, this is a cause for reassessment.” Cain continued, “With this latest one, we have to do an assessment as to whether or not this is going to create too much of a cloud, in some people’s minds, as to whether or not they would be able to support us going forth.”

Claiming the firestorm caused by this episode has taken a toll on Cain and his family, he told his aides that the people will have to make a decision about whether or not to believe him or the women speaking out against him. Even though the fundraising for his campaign has begun to fall, as the public’s opinion of him has, Cain was still determined to continue with his bid for presidency.

However, in a conference call, he only said he would keep certain, imminent commitments. This includes delivering a speech regarding foreign policy at Hillsdale College in Michigan. Cain did cancel one previously planned event and withdrew from a party where he would meet with journalists, Matt Lauer and Barbara Walters.

Representative Scott Plakon, one of Cain’s Florida campaign chairmen, said the woman accusing him of having an affair should produce more evidence. Plakon said that if Cain did have an affair, Republican voters would be turned off. “That would be very problematic,” Plakon stated. “There’s the affair itself, and then there’s the truthful factor. He’s been so outspoken in these denials.”

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Herman Cain, the Republican presidential candidate, said he would no longer answer any questions regarding the sexual harassment accusations towards him that deal with events from about ten years ago and he placed blame on the media for the claims that have followed his campaign.

When the reporters asked Cain questions about the harassment allegations during a debate with Newt Gingrich, he became angry and told them the questions they were asking were unethical. The reporters then asked him if he would never answer questions about the accusations, to which he vehemently replied, “You got it.”

The alleged incidents have created much doubt in regards to his candidacy. On Friday, a lawyer for one of his alleged victims said that his client filed a complaint “in good faith” during the 1990s. In the complaint, she accused him of “several instances of sexual harassment” for which she received a financial settlement.

Attorney Joel Bennett believes that Cain is not telling the truth about the incidents, though he has denied them repeatedly. Cain insists he respects women and has never sexually harassed anybody. His campaign said that it wants to “put this issue behind us”.

During the debate in Houston with Gingrich, Cain was given the opportunity to discuss the accusations brought against him and was asked what has surprised him during his run for president. Cain responded, “The nit-pickiness of the media. It is the actions and behavior of the media that have been the biggest surprise.

There are too many people in the media who are downright dishonest. They do a disservice to the American people.” His comments brought the room to their feet. Gingrich cannot gain anything by bringing up the allegations against Cain. He has been divorced three times and is now married to a woman with whom he had an affair during his previous marriage.

Cain blamed the media for letting the alleged incidents come to light. “If I were running this campaign the way the pundits thought I ought to be running this campaign, I would have dropped out in August. When people get on the Cain train, they don’t get off,’’ he said.

A Washington Post-ABC News survey showed that seven in ten Republicans do not care about the reported allegations when it comes down to choosing a presidential candidate. Republican women, however, have said they were less likely to support Cain because of the allegations. The questions about the alleged sexual harassment show no signs of ceasing.

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Herman Cain’s 9/9/9 plan has been favorable among American’s based on his growing support in polls, but certainly could have gone without the criticism from the other GOP candidates in Tuesday’s debate at Dartmouth.

Herman Cain mentioned in the debate hosted by Bloomberg and The Washington Post, that the solution to the economic difficulties facing the country would be solved by his 9/9/9 plan. This would throw out the current tax code and add a 9% flat corporate tax, 9% income tax, and a 9% national sales tax.

With this plan came questions from all sides; fortunately Cain had answers to all of them. Rick Santorum, the former senator of Pennsylvania, laid out his plan during the debate to solve the economic crisis. His plan to boost the economy focused around increases in manufacturing, by reducing the current corporate tax from 35% to 0% for manufacturers and processors.

Santorum implied that his bill for economic growth would pass over Herman Cain’s 9/9/9 plan stating, “The cool thing about my plan as opposed to Herman’s plan and some of the other plans out there is that it will pass and it will pass tomorrow.”

Santorum continued on pointing out the faults in Cain’s plan by asking the audience, “how many people here are for a sales tax in New Hampshire? Raise your hand,” and “How many people believe that we’ll keep the income tax at 9 percent? Anybody?”

Jon Huntsman, another candidate and former governor of Utah, also mentioned his plan to spur economic growth, mentioning a tax reform himself. Huntsman has already added a flat tax in the state of Utah, which has previously shown to boost jobs and make his state a leading one in job creation.

Although familiar with tax reform, Huntsman thought that even though Cain’s 9/9/9 plan was a catchy phrase; it may not work in practice. Huntsman states, “I thought it was a price of a pizza when I first heard it.” He also thought that unlike Cain’s plan, his own plan was actually one that’s “doable, doable, doable. And what I have put forward is a tax program that is doable.”

Herman Cain did not back down without a fight. Cain’s response to both Huntsman and Santorum was that, “9/9/9 will pass and it is not the price of a pizza, because it has been well studied and well developed.” He continued on saying, “It will pass because the American people want it to pass.”

Julianna Goldman of Bloomberg confronted Cain asking, “Bloomberg Government has run the numbers and your plan would have raised no more than 2 trillion dollars and even with that short fall you’d still be slapping a 9% sales tax on food and medicine.” Cain responded, “The problem with that analysis is that it is incorrect.”

Michele Bachmann chimed in with her view on the 9/9/9 plan saying, “When you take the 9/9/9 plan and you turn it upside down you see the devil in the details.” Other economic plans for the country include Rick Perry’s plan to put 1.2$ Americans working in the energy industry and plans to lay out his plan within the next few days. Mitt Romney has his “59” point plan which he discussed in the debate as well.

Hopefully Herman Cain will keep his growing support even after taking hits from many candidates. With his strong responses and standing by his 9/9/9 plan, he could continue to stay in the lead.

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Shockingly, I think almost every GOP presidential candidate has now won a straw poll or two. The former CEO of Godfather’s Pizza won a Republican straw poll over the weekend in Florida. Herman Cain won 37 percent of the vote on Saturday. Texas governor Rick Perry came in second with 15 percent of the vote and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney had 14 percent of the vote.

Although straw polls actually mean so little, the candidates believe that straw polls are indicators on how they are doing in the race. “This is a sign of our growing momentum and my candidacy that cannot be ignored,” Cain said in a statement addressing the results.

“I will continue to share my message of ‘common sense solutions’ across this country and look forward to spending more time in Florida, a critical state for both the nomination and the general election.”

Perry, who was expected by many to win the straw poll, signaled his belief earlier in the day that it was a “big mistake” for rival candidates like Romney and Bachmann to opt against campaigning for support in the event. Perry said, “I’ve got all my hopes on Florida.”

The loss for Perry is just the latest in a series of bumps for the frontrunner. His performance in last week’s debate has left many Republicans scratching their head. Bachmann has also been plummeting. Although, she did not actively campaign in Florida, her 8^th place finish in the poll is still bad news for the Minnesota Congresswoman.

However, last week Bachmann said she’s “in it for the long haul” despite many people believing that the race will be a match-up between Perry and Romney for the Republican presidential nomination.

 
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Republican presidential hopeful Herman Cain has come under fire by allegations that his campaign tried to conceal the role of one of his campaign staffers.

The issue revolves around Scott Toomey; he served as treasurer of Cain’s political action committee and is one on Cain’s top senior political advisors. It was revealed that Toomey was released from his former position of treasurer at Madison Pride Board because of financial discrepancies — he was released in 2008 after Madison Pride became aware that bills from an event they hosted in 2007 had not been paid.

It was also revealed that Toomey is the leader of a gay pride group in Wisconsin, an issue that is viewed negatively in conservative circles. Cain has previously stated that his belief is that homosexuality is a choice and following through with that choice is to commit a sin.

With Toomey on staff, an openly gay man in an influential position, charges of hypocrisy would run rampant and diminish Cain’s chances of becoming president. Thus, the need to cover up the situation presented itself, and aides were brought on board to ensure a harmonious story was told if anyone asked about Toomey.

These alleged actions only became public knowledge after Kevin Hall, Cain’s former Iowa straw poll coordinator, applied for unemployment benefits and in his testimony revealed the situation. Hall applied for resignation only after Cain’s campaign tried to get him involved in the alleged cover up.

In Hall’s testimony he stated, “That on June 9 his second day on the job, campaign spokeswoman Ellen Carmichael told the staff that Toomey was no longer involved in the campaign in any capacity and they should tell that to anyone who asked.

Hall said he learned weeks later that Toomey was still very much involved as an outside consultant despite what he and others had been telling the media and supporters.” Hall also testified that, “Campaign manager Mark Block told him June 29 the campaign would conceal Toomey’s continued employment by paying his newly-formed consulting firm so his name would not show up in disclosure filings.”

Filings with the Federal Election Commission show Toomey, of Chicago, received his last salary from the campaign on June 13. The Soarin’ Group, which Hall testified was Toomey’s firm, started receiving payments the same month. Hall’s allegations can be partially confirmed by Steve Starkey, a Madison gay rights activist who knew Toomey.

Starkey has been quoted for saying, “It was in the papers that he [Toomey] was the person responsible for that financial mess.” Starkly goes on to say “Toomey moved to Florida and went underground after the scandal. My research later found that Toomey’s promotional company also had been accused in court of not paying vendors.”

Court records show that Toomey filed for bankruptcy in 2009 and reported more than $20,000 in pending legal judgments against him from companies and a credit union.

With the hiring of Toomey, Cain may have taken several missteps that will damage his chances of the republican presidential nomination — not because of Toomey’s questionable financial past or sexual orientation, but because of Cain’s alleged involvement in covering up Toomey’s association with his campaign. During the hearing, a lawyer for Cain’s campaign did not dispute any of the allegations set forth by Hall.

Without dispute, this allowed Judge Bonny Hendricksmeyer to award unemployment benefits to Hall, ruling that Hall only resigned after being approached to participate in the cover up.

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