Politics roundup: Herman Cain and sexual harassment

Cain and Romney neck and neck in key Primary states

Generic Script

Herman Cain surprised everyone about a month ago when his poll numbers skyrocketed. For the few weeks preceding this week, Cain was leading national polls as well as many key states polls. States who hold their primaries earlier than most states, such as South Carolina, Iowa and Florida were all showing Cain ahead of Mitt Romney, sometimes by double digits. The only state not to follow this trend was New Hampshire, though it has been clear since polling began that Romney was going to easily take the Granite State.

This week, however, Cain’s poll numbers have come back down to earth. A series of polls released this past Wednesday by CNN show that Cain’s time as frontrunner may be over. CNN polled New Hampshire, South Carolina, Iowa and Florida and found that Romney was enjoying big leads in both Florida and New Hampshire, while regaining slim leads in South Carolina and Iowa.

Despite a slight drop in poll numbers this week, Cain is certainly not going away—at least not yet. A poll released Saturday from the Des Moines Register put Cain one point ahead of Romney, with no other candidate within ten points of either of them. Although very few see this race continuing as a two-man contest, Cain’s resilience over these last few weeks has been impressive. That being said, the longer Cain enjoys impressive poll numbers, the more his campaign will seem legitimate to the media and his competitors. The more legitimate his campaigns seems, the more he will be attacked by the media and his competitors.

Herman Cain accused of sexual harassment

Remember in the last section of this article, when I said the longer Herman Cain has good poll numbers, the more he will be attacked by the media and his competitors? Well, let the games begin. As I was writing the section above, Politico broke a story claiming that Herman Cain sexually harassed two women during his tenure as the head of the National Restaurant Association in the 1990s. Read the full article here.

Cain’s campaign has already responded to the story. In a statement posted on the Washington Examiner’s website, the Cain campaign basically claimed that the allegations were “unsubstantial” and a ploy by the liberal media to tear down his candidacy through personal attacks.