Anderson@Large

Look Who’s Talking

During last night’s Republican debate, Herman Cain addressed allegations of serial sexual harassment.

Well, in the court of public opinion, most voters believe where there’s smoke, there must be fire.

A Rasmussen poll found 51 percent of voters say “it is at least somewhat likely the allegations against Cain are both serious and true.”

The Washington Post reports two of the four women who want a piece of Cain will hold a joint press conference:

The women who have accused GOP contender Herman Cain of sexual harassment have agreed to hold a joint news conference to air their stories, one of their attorneys said Wednesday, a move that could fuel a controversy that has dogged the businessman’s campaign for more than a week.

Joel P. Bennett, who represents federal employee Karen Kraushaar, 55, said in an interview that he was planning the news conference with Gloria Allred, who represents Chicago homemaker Sharon Bialek, 50. Details of the joint appearance have not yet been worked out, Bennett said.

Before their 15 minutes are up, Kraushaar and Bialek are going to tell everything they know.

Sex, Lies and 'Woman Number Four'

As I watched the press conference with Sharon Bialek, who accused Herman Cain of groping her, I was struck by her resemblance to Gennifer Flowers. In 1992, Flowers claimed she had a 12-year relationship with then-presidential candidate Bill Clinton.

The Cain campaign issued a statement denying “Republican front-runner Herman Cain” had sexual contact with “woman number four”:

Just as the country finally begins to refocus on our crippling $15 trillion national debt and the unacceptably high unemployment rate, now activist celebrity lawyer Gloria Allred is bringing forth more false accusations against the character of Republican front-runner Herman Cain.

All allegations of harassment against Mr. Cain are completely false. Mr. Cain has never harassed anyone. Fortunately the American people will not allow Mr. Cain’s bold “9-9-9 Plan,” clear foreign policy vision and plans for energy independence to be overshadowed by these bogus attacks.

During an appearance on ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!,” Cain said he will hold a press conference today, to “set the record straight.”

It is said that history repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce. First, it is a farcical notion that Cain is a serious GOP presidential front-runner. Second, his campaign is descending into tragicomedy.

9-99

Folks, you can’t make this stuff up. POLITICO reports the settlement of the sexual harassment claim against Herman Cain was signed in September 1999:

Joel Bennett, the attorney for one of the women who complained about Herman Cain at the National Restaurant Association said Friday that his client’s settlement was dated in September of 1999 and signed by the trade group’s general counsel but not Cain.

LOL!

UPDATE: Gloria Cain has canceled her appearance on Fox News Channel’s “On the Record With Greta Van Susteren.” Uh-oh.

One Year Out: Electoral Storms Brewing

The 2012 presidential election will be held one year from today.

While the battle for the Republican nomination rages on, the surging front-runner, Herman Cain, is feeling the heat over allegations of sexual harassment.

Although some progressives on New York’s Upper West Side are grumbling about a primary challenger, it’s just a bunch of hot air. That said, President Obama must fight to reenergize and mobilize his supporters. The Los Angeles Times reports:

Barack Obama won the presidency in 2008 by riding two of America's biggest waves of population change — greater racial diversity and a rise in college graduates. With the 2012 election a year away, his reelection chances depend on those trends overpowering the sour impact of a bad economy.

[…]

To win in places like Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico — all key targets — Obama needs the Latino vote to keep expanding and to go heavily to him. In North Carolina, another closely fought state the last time around, his chances depend in part on a very large and loyal black turnout.

Yet minorities have been hit disproportionately hard by the recession — unemployment rates are higher among blacks and Latinos than among whites, and poverty is deeper.

The grim economic numbers almost certainly will discourage some from voting. The economy could even encourage some Latinos to consider the Republicans — although the hard line the GOP candidates are taking against illegal immigrants may lessen that prospect.

They call it “Stormy Monday” but Tuesday – Election Day 2012 – may be just as bad.