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December 3, 2011
Herman Cain ends his bid for presidency
Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain speaks to supporters Friday in Rock Hill, S.C.
(Full-size photo)
ATLANTA — The Cain train has come to a stop.
Republican candidate Herman Cain is suspending his bid for the Republican presidential nomination to avoid continued news coverage of allegations of sexual misconduct that is hurtful to his family.
“I am suspending my presidential campaign because of the continued distractions and the continued hurt caused on me and my family,” Cain told several hundred supporters gathered at what was to have been the opening of his national campaign headquarters.
Cain’s announcement came five days after an Atlanta-area woman claimed she and Cain had an affair for more than a decade, a claim that followed several allegations of sexual harassment against the Georgia businessman.
“But because of these false and unproved accusations, it has paid and had a tremendous painful price on my family,” Cain said, with his wife, Gloria, standing behind him on the stage.
“Now here’s why it hurts — because my wife, my family and I, we know that those false and unproved allegations are not true. So 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.”
Whether Cain would stay in the race or drop out was the subject of speculation throughout the week. Even some top supporters who had spoken with Cain were arriving Saturday unsure what he would say.
Cain returned to his suburban Atlanta home Friday and met with his wife, Gloria. It was the first time they have seen each other face to face since 46-year-old Ginger White came forward on Monday, and said she and Herman Cain had carried on a 13-year relationship.
Cain has denied having an affair with White. He said the concern over the toll the allegations were having on his family as well as a candid assessment of whether his campaign could still attract the needed support would inform his decision on whether to press ahead.
Campaign volunteers were keeping busy Friday night, tacking up signs at his headquarters. A contingent of Secret Service agents inspected the site in advance of Cain’s arrival.
“We are moving ahead,” said Cain’s Georgia director David McCleary, who said he had talked to the candidate earlier in the day and describe him as “upbeat.”
Cain, the former Godfather’s Pizza chief executive who has never held elected office, rose to become an unexpected front-runner in the volatile Republican race just weeks ago. A self-styled outsider, Cain enjoyed strong tea party support from conservatives who viewed him as an alternative to former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.
But once in the national spotlight, Cain fumbled policy questions, leaving some to wonder whether he was ready for the presidency. Then it was revealed at the end of October that the National Restaurant Association had paid settlements to two women who claimed Cain sexually harassed them while he was president of the organization.
A third woman told The Associated Press that Cain made inappropriate sexual advances but that she didn’t file a complaint. A fourth woman also stepped forward to accuse Cain of groping her in a car in 1997.
Cain has denied wrongdoing in all cases.
Polls suggest his popularity has suffered. A Des Moines Register poll released Friday showed Cain’s support plunging, with backing from 8 percent of Republican caucus-goers in Iowa, compared with 23 percent a month ago.
Fundraising has also fallen off. He issued an email appeal to supporters on Friday asking for donations, in an attempt to gauge whether his financial support has dried up.
“I need to know that you are behind me 100 percent,” Cain told backers. “In today’s political environment, the only way we can gauge true support is by the willingness of our supporters to invest in this effort.”
On Friday, Cain urged backers in South Carolina to look past the allegations.
“There’s a lot of garbage on the Internet. There’s a lot of garbage out there on the TV. There’s a lot of garbage out there about me, don’t you know? There’s a lot of misinformation out there. You have to stay informed and check out the facts for yourself,” Cain said.
He added: “I’m on this journey for a reason. I don’t look back.”
© Copyright 2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Presidential candidates have differing views of tax cut debate 
misjustice on December 03 at 11:01 a.m.
He goes…probably straight to Faux Noise ala $arah Paylin.
The Koch-Cain Train has been derailed!
“If you’re not a GOP Candidate for President, it’s your own damn fault!”
; )
Birdog on December 03 at 11:09 a.m.
what a relief….these politicos can’t get enuf on the side, and then they run for the highest office…Stupid is his name
idahocity on December 03 at 11:11 a.m.
he’ll probably go back to work for the private fed bank or one of their more well known spinoffs and bleed the country dry some more.
polistra on December 03 at 11:18 a.m.
Fox must be the only employer in the world that requires people to run for President in order to qualify for a broadcasting job.
Certainly cheaper for Murdoch than doing his own check of qualifications, internal polls to determine likely ratings, etc.
He just gets the American voters to run his HR department for free.
liberal_in_right_wing_land on December 03 at 11:19 a.m.
Thats a shame, he provided endless hours of comedy with his campaign.
Guess Mitt and his flip-flops to make whoever is listening to him happy……Newt and him back track from being a paid millions of dollars by Fannie and Freddie to be a lobbyist telling them how to crash the economy…..Michele Bachmann and her crazy rantings…..and the republican debate audiences who cheer killing people, people dying in a coma unable to pay for medical care, and the death penalty and then booing gay military members will have to all provide the comedy now.
Oh well, at least we can look forward to him being on Fox News spewing lack of knowledge on the world and issues and flat out lying like everyone else on Fox News does, so we still have that comedy to look forward to.
As a side note, did anyone else see where Newt came out and admitted that being a political commentator on Fox News you don’t need to know the facts, they just make things up as they go??? Nice.
liberal_in_right_wing_land on December 03 at 11:21 a.m.
Pigrobin, please explain why most “media” on Fox News was attacking him also? Oh I guess, maybe Fox News is part of that liberal media elite now?
reservedparking on December 03 at 11:21 a.m.
Another one bites the dust.
Republican candidates, one by one, self destructing.
Should we just declare the election over now?
norpass on December 03 at 11:23 a.m.
Bye bye Hermy and, your pizza wasn’t very good either.
Jethro_toll on December 03 at 11:31 a.m.
Reminded me of McCain with a bad tan. I bet they are related.
johnclarke on December 03 at 11:40 a.m.
Clinton
misjustice on December 03 at 11:46 a.m.
Koch-Cain asked Gloria if the campaign should continue, she answered “Nein, nein, nein”…
drywitt99 on December 03 at 12:11 p.m.
In teabagger land if you conduct a decade long affair……and choose to run for the Presidency…..you go B-BYE.
But if you are a serial adulterer…..you rise RIGHT TO THE TOP of the polls.
Makes you wonder who those buffoons hate more…..President Obama or Mitt Romney???
misjustice on December 03 at 12:20 p.m.
Koch-Cain’s just “suspending” his campaign; that will allow him to still raise/spend money. Hmmmmmm…
drywitt99 on December 03 at 12:24 p.m.
Its ALL about the money!!!!
Dumb ass teabaggers selling their souls to allow the rich to make MORE…..and pay no tax.
SugarShane on December 03 at 12:30 p.m.
http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/4ecfd3a85f/herman-cains-campaign-promises-with-mike-tyson
Funny or Die makes fun of Cain, pretty funny stuff, this guy was a comedy goldmine just like Palin.
misjustice on December 03 at 12:52 p.m.
“If you don’t have rubes to fleece it’s your own damn fault!”
greenlibertarian on December 03 at 1:55 p.m.
Oh man, and was just diggin’ on that Women for Cain site, a veritable cornucopia of delusion!
http://www.hermancain.com/wfhc
Shadedmuse on December 03 at 2:01 p.m.
BYE BYE Pizza-Tax Man, thank allah this guy is not going to raise my taxes with his 999 Scam what he probally came up with when he tried to hit on a German woman and she was saying NINE NINE NINE meaning NO NO NO. randi rhoades said Cain was dumb but in a room full of tea-baggers he is the smartest guy in the room,now we need Michele crazy eyes Rick google me Rick Good hair and Newt the Serial aulderter and Mitt the flipper to all drop out of the race. and we all vote for Obama 4 more years.
greenlibertarian on December 03 at 2:10 p.m.
Note that the criminal (by nature) complaints about Koch-Cain didn’t bring him down, oh no, it was a 13 year long MUTUALLY AGREEABLE friendship and sexual relationship (outside of his marriage) that financially and finally sunk this two-bit huckster/conman.
Now if only some hacker could get a list of donors to Koch-Cain in the past 24 hours and including this weekend.
Can you imagine ANYONE stupid enough to give this side-show clown their hard earned money?
All in all, it’s one of these moments:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjVNlG5cZyQ
[Skoal!}
misjustice on December 03 at 2:24 p.m.
“Can you imagine ANYONE stupid enough to give this side-show clown their hard earned money?”
Yup, I can; the same ones that were dumb enough to make $arah Paylin a multi-millionaire!
greenlibertarian on December 03 at 2:46 p.m.
http://www.opensecrets.org/pres12/candidate.php?cycle=2012&id=N00009852
“How complete are this candidate’s (CAIN) campaign finance reports?
Quality of Disclosure
legend Full Disclosure $982,333 (53.1%)
legend Incomplete $11,750 (0.6%)
legend No Disclosure $855,250 (46.2%)”
Figures he’d be shifty on the campaign donation reports, most carnies don’t like to identify their sources of cash.
DHF on December 03 at 2:48 p.m.
Maybe he will go on in life and make millions. There was another sleezball named William Jefferson Clinton who continues to make millions and he was the President. To bad Herman will never get the chance.
misjustice on December 03 at 2:53 p.m.
“If you’re not rich it’s your own damn fault!”
Herb Koch-Cain
greenlibertarian on December 03 at 2:54 p.m.
Two weeks ago, Herman Cain was the top polled GOP candidate, today he quits in disgrace, and all DHF can come up with is Bill Clinton yada yada.
Really deep there, DHF. Stick with the funny papers.
mikeln on December 03 at 3:36 p.m.
How anyone can vote for any of these people is beyond me. All of them, from the president down to the local elected dogcatcher are crimminals who make the sleazy deals legitimate by passing laws that make them exempt from any prosecution. Now they even attack us violently when we protest against them. This country is half-way down the drain and only a true revolution will pull us out. We can no longer vote our way out as the elections have been rigged by the courts. I’m going back to stock up, the worse is yet to come as all the evil that has become our government starts to boil over.
misjustice on December 03 at 3:38 p.m.
“If you’re not rich enough to buy your own Congressman it’s your own damn fault!”
; )
misjustice on December 03 at 3:43 p.m.
Green, he didn’t really “quit”, he suspended. Big diff. If he had “quit” he wouldn’t be able to keep on raising/accepting/spending money. By merely suspending his campaign he gets to do all three!
Faux Noise paid “consultant” position in one, two, three…Koch-Cain, the minstrel, is gonna milk this cash cow for all it’s worth!
Which was REALLY what his bid for president was all about; as if the GOP would annoint him as the chosen one! Yeah…good laugh that one!
; )
mdriftmeyer on December 03 at 3:58 p.m.
FWIW: If you’re going to cite Deutsch then actually spell it correctly:
Nein, Nein und Nein.
mdriftmeyer on December 03 at 3:59 p.m.
Oops! I should take my own advice:
Neun, Neun, und Neun.
oneanddone on December 03 at 4:06 p.m.
Hey greenlibdemdumb - at least Cain had the decency to quit, as opposed to slick willie who, as nearly every libdemdumb does, lies without remorse or conscious thought.
WillyPeter on December 03 at 4:15 p.m.
All these hate-baiters commenting here aren’t really racists…they just cannot stand successful, black, Republican men??
misjustice on December 03 at 4:28 p.m.
“they just cannot stand successful, black, Republican men??”
Whadaya mean? We voted for the Republican, Barack Hussein Obama!
Shazamm on December 03 at 4:37 p.m.
Cain was a lot more qualified to be president than Obummer ever was.
liberal_in_right_wing_land on December 03 at 4:37 p.m.
Whats really got to be frustrating for these tea bagging idiots in the country is that despite how bad the economy is and everything else working against Obama, he still leads in most polls against any of these pathetic loser republicans fighting for the approval of most hateful, racist fractions of the republican party.
The one candidate who has a chance of beating Obama, the tea baggers are doing whatever possible to make sure he doesn’t get the nomination and now you guys have turned a moderate republican like Mitt into a crazy ranting conservative….that is until next week when he decides to change his positions on everything again.
Now, the shiny new boy toy you guys are trying to nominate is NEWT!!! I mean this is freakin’ awesome!!! Saturday Night Live couldn’t have written a better sketch.
This is a guy you people hated so much just a few years ago he was forced to resign from as Speaker of the House and had to go into hiding writing books and racking up huge lines of credit at Tiffany’s for his third wife until he reappeared a few years ago on Fox News.
Newt is a guy whose major accomplishments are being known for impeaching Clinton for having an affair while he was having his own affair. Having an affair and divorcing his wife while she had cancer. Shutting down the government, twice, costing the republicans the 1996 presidential election. And now the new one he is being known for….he was a very high paid lobbyist for Freddie and Fannie while they were tanking the economy.
Seriously, this is like a reality TV show……AND NOW YOU HAVE DONALD TRUMP MODERATING YOU’RE DEBATES! While he fire half these losers at the end of it?
Good luck tea baggers, hope you enjoy four more years of Obama. And if you thought he was a liberal socialist before, wait until you see what he does when doesn’t have to run for another office again in his life. ENJOY!!!
Shazamm on December 03 at 4:41 p.m.
It cracks me up when the libs whine about the rich billionaires, since it was the rich billionaires from Hollywood (Winfrey, Katz, et.al.), along with mega-billionaires George Soros and Warren Buffet, that put Obummer in the White House. Obummer is in the back pocket of General Electric and J.P. Morgan Chase as well, and I don’t think they paid too much in taxes this year. Take your stupid class warfare somewhere else. It doesn’t resonate here…
WillyPeter on December 03 at 4:45 p.m.
Sure, lib. I’d kinda enjoy President Obama presiding over the soon to be re-seated Republican House…and the new Republican Senate…..HOOT!
Diana on December 03 at 5:59 p.m.
So will that sleazebag Newt Gingrich have the decency to drop out?
Shadedmuse on December 03 at 6:03 p.m.
Come nov 2012 Obama will lead a blue wave sweeping out all the tea-baggers to sea. with a Democratic white house house and senate and govenor and state leg races.
Diana on December 03 at 6:17 p.m.
Soros! Obummer!
Drink!
misjustice on December 03 at 6:23 p.m.
Diana, Lol! Getrich has NO decency!
He’s the dude that served his wife with divorce papers while she was in the hospital recovering from cancer.
He’s the dude that’s have THREE marriages.
The dude that presided over Clinton’s impeachment, while Callista was singin’ in the choir and doin’ Newtie in the parkin’ lot.
The dude that was drummed out of the House by his own members and fined $300,000.00 for ethics violations.
The dude that thinks child labor laws should be abandonded.
The dude that took money from FreddieMac in return for lobbying work….
Lol! Good one, Di… “decency”… ya really got me goin’ there!
; )
greenlibertarian on December 03 at 6:37 p.m.
Cain was never anything more than a world class CLOWN, a carnie, a scam artist, and a misogynist to boot. But the knuckle-draggers LOVE that, they LOVE conmen and hucksters.
Straight shooters like Gary Johnson, John Huntsman, and Ron Paul get short shrift from the dullards in the GOP which are legion.
I mean here’s a guy, Koch-Cain, who literally SUCKER-PUNCHES his most ardent supporters, (inviting them to his campaign HQ kickoff event today) and some of you dolts are still supporting this chump? WTH is wrong with you?
And just wait until we find out about his love children, that’ll be a hoot!
liberal_in_right_wing_land on December 03 at 7:32 p.m.
Sure, WillyPeter, thats why republicans members of congress have lower ratings that democrats and if the election were held today, the democrats would probably win the house and increase their lead in the senate. The tea baggers who were elected in 2010 have pissed off way to many people by refusing to work with anyone.
Personally, I would like to see every single member of congress, republican AND democrat voted out in 2012 after how little they have done and how poorly they have acted and how little regard they seem to have to the people who elected them. And yes, Spokane and Eastern Washington diehard republicans, that would mean you guys voting out Cathy McMoRo in the primary and putting up a good republican to face whatever loser democrat we pick to run against them.
Ed Byrnes on December 03 at 10:05 p.m.
MisJ lmao @ “If you’re not a GOP Candidate for President, it’s your own damn fault!”
Ed
Shadedmuse on December 03 at 10:13 p.m.
Chris marr should run against cathy Mcmo-Mo or maybe even darrell romein the weatherman,
scaleram on December 04 at 7:09 a.m.
It is too bad. I think Cain was very qualified to be POTUS, way more than the dolt we have in there now. I also think he would have won without a problem. As I mentioned, he is more qualified than the current occupant plus he would get a large share of the black vote because he is actually black. He would also get all of the whites that voted for Obama to prove that they were not racists. They could get a double hit. They are proving they are not racists and they are also proving they are not stupid. Except that they did vote for him once but we will forgive them.
greenlibertarian on December 04 at 7:51 a.m.
You don’t really have any core principles, do you scaleram?
Sad, that.