Herman Cain |
Onetime Godfather's Pizza CEO Herman Cain, one of the most successful individual candidates ever to hit the trail campaigning to be president, has officially suspended his campaign.
Cain announced his decision before a crowd in Atlanta, at the site of what was to be his new campaign headquarters.
"As false accusations about me continue, they have sidetracked and distracted my ability to present solutions to the American people," Cain said, talking of recent allegations of sexual misconduct widely reported in the media. "It hurts my wife, it hurts my family, it hurts me, and it hurts the American people."
He continued, "So as of today, with a lot of prayer and soul searching, I am suspending my presidential campaign because of the continued distraction, the continued hurt caused on me and my family, not because we are not fighters, not because I am not a fighter, it's just that when I went through this reassessment of the impact on my family first, the impact on you, my supporters … as well as the impact on the ability to raise the necessary funds to remain competitive, we had to come to this conclusion."
Cain also assured his audience that he would not "go away," but would continue to be a voice for "we the people" and that he intends to make an endorsement of another candidate shortly.
Even before announcing his campaign's suspension, however, Cain said, "One of the first declarations that I want to make to you today is that I am at peace with my God. I am at peace with my wife. And she is at peace with me."
It was after he had surged to the top of the GOP ranks in the party's race for the nomination that a number of allegations of sexual misconduct surfaced, and then in the past few days, a woman alleged she had had a 13-year extramarital affair with Cain.
On a telephone conference call with his campaign supporters at the time, Cain noted the toll the disputes were taking.
"It's taken an emotional toll, but the people in the audience tonight will never know it," he said, according to a report in National Review, which was allowed to be on the call. "It's also taken a toll on my wife and family, as you would imagine. Any time you put another cloud of doubt, unfortunately, in the court of public opinion, for some people, you're guilty until proven innocent. And so, the public will have to decide whether they believe her or whether they believe me. That's why we're going to give it time, to see what type of response we get from our supporters."
At the time he was addressing his campaign, he denied the woman's claims.
"The first thing I want to do is say to you what I have said publicly: I deny those charges, unequivocally. Secondly, I have known this lady for a number of years. And thirdly, I have been attempting to help her financially because she was out of work and destitute, desperate. So, thinking that she was a friend – and I have helped many friends – I now know that she wasn't the friend that I thought she was. But it was a just a friendship relationship."
However, even that was enough to cause him to announce plans for a "reassessement."
"As you know," he told supporters, according to National Review, "during the summer we had to make some reassessments based upon our financial situation. We were able to hang in there; we reassessed the situation and kept on going. We also did a reassessment after the Iowa straw poll and we made another reassessment after the Florida straw poll. When the previous two accusations, false accusations, came about, we made another assessment. The way we handled those was, we continued on with our schedule. We made an assessment about what was going to happen to our support. But our supporters, and even some folks that we didn't have as supporters, they stood with us, and they showed it not only in terms of their verbal support, they showed it in terms of their dollars."
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution said radio host Neal Boortz, a friend of Cain, concluded after the latest accusations that that "pretty much puts a fork in Herman Cain's chances of winning the GOP nomination."
"True or not, it does that," he said. "It may be rapidly approaching the time for Herman Cain to concentrate on his relationship with his family, and try to get through this thing."
Larry Sabato, the chief of the University of Virginia Center for Politics, suggested to the AJC that it was a matter of attrition. He noted defenders who arose to stand with Cain following the first allegations of sexual harassment didn't fail to do that following the latest claim.
"I was struck by how few Cain defenders there were, compared to the time of the earlier allegations," he told the newspaper.
Cain trumpeted his status as an outsider, and his 9-9-9 plan to revamp the nation's tax code, on the trail.
The woman making the claim, Ginger White of Atlanta, said in her claim, "I was aware that he was married. And I was also aware I was involved in a very inappropriate situation, relationship."
Atlanta reporters immediately documented that she has been involved in court actions as well as an eviction. But they said White produced her cell telephone bills that included 61 phone calls or text messages to a number she said was Cain's.
The Chicago Tribune reported White came forward because of the claims that other women were making.
"It bothered me that they were being demonized, sort of, they were treated as if they were automatically lying, and the burden of proof was on them," she said.
Cain has been married to his wife for 43 years.
At his announcement today, Cain insisted his campaign as a political outsider – and indeed his life story of rising from life as a black boy during the days of segregation to becoming a successful businessman and leading candidate for the presidency – has already had an impact on the nation.
"What we learned is that the voice of the people is more powerful than the voice of the media," Cain said. "Secondly, we have learned that message is more powerful than money. … One of the biggest things we have shown is that 'we the people' are still in charge of this country."
"I am proof that a common man could lead this nation," he said.
Finally, Cain announced that he would be launching a new website, TheCainSolutions.com, to continue advocating for reform of government and his proposed tax policies, a combination he suggested could be "the biggest change and transfer of power out of Washington, D.C., and to the people since this nation began."
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