Cain admits losing 'warm-weather' supporters amid scandal
Manchester, New Hampshire (CNN) - Herman Cain took questions from the media Wednesday but cleared up little of the confusion surrounding the status of his campaign.
The embattled presidential candidate acknowledged he had lost "a few of our warm-weather supporters" and was reassessing his election effort in the wake of an allegation he carried on a 13-year extramarital affair with a Georgia woman. But it was unclear what, exactly, about the campaign he was reassessing.
Cain said he was waiting to talk face-to-face with his wife about the latest allegation, which comes a month after news that four women had accused Cain of sexual harassment in the 1990s. He has denied all the accusations.
The former businessman said he would also look at fundraising numbers - which he said had dipped but were showing signs of resurgence.
But Cain also said the reassessment concerned a reworking of his campaign strategy and likened the process to a business rethinking its path forward.
Cain said he would come to a decision within a few days, but he didn't clarify whether the decision would be about ending his campaign or merely changing strategy.
When asked if the allegations would make him a weaker general election candidate if he wins the Republican nomination, Cain said he could not promise that someone "won't trump up another allegation."
"It makes me problematic if you're looking for someone with no blemishes and no accusations," he said, adding no politician was perfect.
Before speaking to the media, Cain sounded confident as he spoke to a warmly supportive audience of supporters at his state headquarters.
"A few of our warm-weather supporters have gotten off the Cain train," he acknowledged as supporters urged him to stay in the race.
But Cain repeated his belief his opponents were behind what he called attacks on his character and said they were distracting attention from his policy stances.
He returned to his views on U.S. military involvement in Libya, an issue he had struggled to explain in an editorial board interview earlier this month.
"That's not turning out the way that I think a lot of people wanted it to turn out," he said of U.S. involvement in the country.
Cain will sit down with the New Hampshire Union Leader's editorial page staffers Thursday; he skipped his meeting with the paper on November 17. The paper endorsed former House Speaker Newt Gingrich Sunday.
From CNN Politics
- Untitled
- 10 Cards Charging 0% Interest Until 2024
- Biden to announce that federal government will fully cover cost of cleanup following deadly storms
- Social Security will not be able to pay full benefits in 2034 if Congress doesn't act
- Democratic congressman announces he has 'serious but curable form of cancer'
- Biden marks International Transgender Day of Visibility by blasting Republicans targeting trans youth
The Herb Cain Train is now the Herb Putz Bus
Dance,dance,dance!! Going in circles and your time is up. The most truthful comment was he was going to talk with his wife!!That will be interesting!!!
Cain has admitted that his wife didn't know Ginger White, so obviously she didn't know about these financial dealings with her.Cain claims that he hasn't even been home , sat down and talked with his wife face to face since the story broke I think that a man that really respects and honors his wife and marriage would have dropped everything that he was doing, and gone home to be with his wife at a time like this, and told her the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.He just looks like a total huckster,flop, and phony.
Ms. White says they were at a Tyson/Holyfield fight. There are always still and video cameras all over these events. I would love to see a shot or clip of the two of them together. That ought to end his babbling for good.
Please don't leave Herman. I love a good cartoon, Your Sim City tax plan, your lift from the Simpson movie – I'm a leader not a reader – and your lift from the Pokeman theme for your "motivational" speech at the Iowa Straw Poll all show you're real leval of intelligennce – to bad the voting age isn't 8, you'd be a shoe-in. Maybe 8 year old girls could be your thing too – they don't talk so much..
just pack it in, will ya, Herman? You don't have a snowballs chance ..
Cain thinks he's Mr. Teflon, but arrogance and denial have carried him as far as he can go. After all his lies, it's too late to tell the truth.
I wonder if during this reassessment he is calling up all the women he has flirted or assaulted, or had an affair with, to see if they are planning on coming out. If he can limit it to just one more, he thinks he has a chance.
The "Cain Train"? This reminds me of the way I felt when I discovered the truth about John Edwards. I believed his sincere speeches and really felt he was a true public servant. I took the bait and trusted the man. Like Cain, he turned out to be a worthless horn-dog who'd rather lie than tell the truth.
Now i know why Mrs Cain doesnt travel with him for campaign 🙂
Just go away, Herman. Go back under whatever rock you came out of.
â–şCain admits losing 'warm-weather' supporters amid scandal
But it is now almost WINTER – does he believe he still has a handle?
On “anyone” that once thought he was “the Man”
Arguing with those who knew he was nothing but a “scam”
I saw within CNN Political Ticker regular right-bloggers challenge the left
Telling us we’re ignorant and afraid of a right-black-intelligent gent
Now I wonder if they’ll come back and say they were WRONG and downplay their glory
Maybe some – but most – will just stay away from the truth of this story
Obama 2012
This man gives new meaning to the word arrogant. Thos whole thing is so disturbing. All those wopman can't be wrong. All those women can't be paid by someone who want to discredit him. The man is a womanizer big time, has been caught, and still thinks he has a chance to be the candidate. Sad day when Newt Gingrich is the front runner because you. Mr. Cain think you are god's gift to women.Actions have consequences and your 15 minutes of fame are over. You are yesterdays news American voters are smarter than you and much smarter than you think they are.
He could lose more than fair weather fans. If this begins to really look like a pattern of "poor behavior," then people are going to leave in major groups (possibly his wife too from the campaign). I think he really needs to think of what he has done and what his policies really are for and against. Does his message really shine through the questionable behavior? It is beginning like it will fade against the din of the sex stories.