Herman Cain announcement: Is he staying, or is he going?
Herman Cain announced on Friday that in Atlanta on Saturday he鈥檒l announce the future of his presidential bid.
So is he staying or is he going? (And yes, the classic Clash song on that subject is as we type this.)
Well, it鈥檚 hard to see how his campaign goes forward. As we鈥檝e already written, it鈥檚 zombie-like at the moment. His polls are plummeting in key states and his money is drying up. He鈥檚 acknowledged that he knows Ginger White, the woman who says they had a 13-year affair, though he says they were just friends. He also acknowledges that he鈥檚 given her money from time to time, and that he did not tell his wife about that. Isn鈥檛 that big marital trouble, right there?
The Washington Post says Cain has to Atlanta for his big announcement, and that at least one of them believes he鈥檚 going to drop out.
But this has been a crazy political cycle already, so we鈥檙e not prepared to predict that the end comes tomorrow. It鈥檚 also possible he鈥檒l announce he鈥檚 going on, and that his major news is something like the opening of a new national campaign headquarters in Atlanta.
After all, the campaign announced the formation of a 鈥淲omen for Cain鈥� group on Friday. Why bother with that if he鈥檚 going to pull out?
Plus, politicians that are about to deliver bad news 鈥� or at least, news that reflects badly on them 鈥� generally underplay it. They usually don鈥檛 announce ahead of time they鈥檙e going to announce they鈥檝e failed in a quest, in front of an audience of supporters they鈥檝e gathered specially for that occasion. That maximizes the audience for their calamity.
And on Thursday at least, both Cain and his lawyer continued to charge in public appearances that Ginger White was exaggerating her relationship with the ex-Godfather Pizza CEO, had little evidence to back up her assertions, and was possibly just in it for the money.
On CNN, for instance, Cain attorney Lin Wood got into something of a shouting match with Piers Morgan over whether the news media was being too soft on Cain鈥檚 accusers.
Mr. Wood said Ms. White so far has produced no receipts of the travel she says Cain paid for, none of the gifts she says Cain gave her, and no photos of her and Cain together.
It is true Cain and White texted each other, Wood said, but that proved little. Of the 70 texts between them in a recent four-week period, 57 were initiated by White, said the attorney.
Wood said his son could sit down to watch a University of Georgia football game and easily send 50 texts to a single friend by the fourth quarter.
鈥淵ou know, text messages aren鈥檛 necessarily the way people communicate in-depth discussion,鈥� on Piers Morgan鈥檚 show.
In fact, White鈥檚 texts to Cain represented only about two percent of her total texting traffic for the weeks in question, asserted Wood.
Ginger White, for her part, in an appearance on MSNBC, apologized for any hurt she鈥檚 caused Cain鈥檚 wife.
鈥淚鈥檓 not a cold-hearted person. I鈥檓 the mother of two kids,鈥� said White, adding that one of the hardest parts of going public with her claims has been telling her two children, now 19 and 20, what she says happened in the past.
