Herman Cain: Accuser is someone 'I didn't recognize'
Herman Cain called a press conference Tuesday to respond to allegations from Sharon Bialek. Less than an hour before the conference, a second Herman Cain accuser went public.
Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain addresses the media Tuesday in Scottsdale, Ariz. Cain was responding to Sharon Bialek, a Chicago-area woman, who accused Cain on Monday of making an unwanted sexual advance against her in 1997.
Darryl Webb/AP
GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain, in a press conference Tuesday, categorically denied all the charges of sexual harassment that have emerged in the past week.
鈥淚 have never acted inappropriately with anyone, period,鈥� Mr. Cain said several times. 鈥淎nd these accusations that were revealed yesterday simply didn鈥檛 happen.鈥�
The accusations Monday 鈥� which caused Cain to call the press conference to respond 鈥� came from Sharon Bialek, the first of four accusers to go public with her allegations. Less than an hour before the press conference Tuesday, a second Herman Cain accuser, Karen Kraushaar, also went public.
Ms. Bialek, a Chicagoan who worked for the National Restaurant Association in the mid-1990s, said Monday that during a meeting with Cain when she was looking for guidance on a new job, Cain groped her.
Not only are those charges untrue, Cain said Tuesday, but he doesn鈥檛 recall ever meeting Bialek, whom he called a 鈥渢roubled woman.鈥�
鈥淚 didn鈥檛 recognize the face. I didn鈥檛 recognize the name, nor the voice,鈥� said Cain of Bialek.
Recent polling has suggested that the women's accusations 鈥� especially when the accusations are attached to a name and a face 鈥� are beginning to take a toll on Cain鈥檚 support.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll of registered Republicans, taken online Monday and Tuesday, found that 40 percent had a less favorable view of Cain after seeing the video of Bialek鈥檚 press conference and that 39 percent believed her charges.
Still, while most pundits agreed that Cain鈥檚 press conference was necessary 鈥� and overdue 鈥� it seems unlikely to put an end to the media firestorm. In many ways, say some, it鈥檚 an impossible situation for the candidate.
鈥淚f nothing happened, all he can say is, 鈥榥othing happened,鈥� 鈥� says Jack Pitney, a political science professor at Claremont McKenna College in southern California. 鈥淎nd if something did happen, he鈥檚 in trouble.... It鈥檚 extremely difficult to prove a negative.鈥�
The big risk for Cain, Professor Pitney adds, is if more women come forward 鈥� a possibility even Cain suggested was likely in the conference.
鈥淭here will probably be others 鈥� not because I am aware of any, but because the machine to keep a businessman out of the White House is going to be relentless,鈥� Cain said. 鈥淚f they continue to come, I will continue to respond.鈥�
Although a second accuser went public shortly before Tuesday's conference, she has yet to decide whether she鈥檒l detail her account of the harassment.
In an interview with The New York Times, Ms. Kraushaar, now a spokeswoman for the Treasury Department, acknowledged that she was one of two women who settled sexual harassment claims against Cain with the National Restaurant Association back in the 1990s.
While she didn鈥檛 give any details, she told the Times that she was thinking about the 鈥渋dea of a joint press conference where all of the women would be together with our attorneys and all of this evidence would be considered together.鈥� Then, 鈥渢hese allegations can be considered together as a body of evidence.鈥�
When asked about Kraushaar鈥檚 accusation in the press conference, Cain acknowledged that he did recall her claim, but insisted it was baseless.
鈥淭here was no legal settlement. There was an agreement between that lady and the National Restaurant Association, and it was treated as a personnel matter because there was no basis to her accusations,鈥� he said.
When pressed on the details of the case, he said the only thing he remembered was that she had been bothered by a hand gesture he made in comparing her height to that of his wife鈥檚 (while holding his hand up around his chin). He said the incident occurred in his office with the door open.
Kraushaar鈥檚 lawyer has said that his client complained of multiple incidents over multiple days.
Cain鈥檚 lawyer, Lin Wood, began the press conference with an impassioned plea to 鈥渁fford [Cain] fairness.鈥� Cain then followed with vehement, if sometimes rambling, statements, in which he often referred to himself in the third person. He didn鈥檛 appear with his wife or family, though he referred to them and their support, and he stated that when he spoke to his wife after Bialek鈥檚 press conference Monday, his wife replied, 鈥淚鈥檝e known you for 46 years and ... that doesn鈥檛 even sound like anything that you would ever do to anyone.鈥�
Cain also alluded to a 鈥淒emocratic machine鈥� behind the allegations, and he called into question the character of Bialek. His campaign has been trying to discredit her since Monday, with reports of her financial troubles and history of bringing lawsuits.
Meanwhile on Tuesday, other GOP candidates began to call for more explanations.
In an ABC interview, fellow GOP candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney called Bialek's allegations 鈥減articularly disturbing鈥� and said, 鈥淭hey鈥檙e going to have to be addressed seriously.鈥�
On Wednesday night, the Republican candidates will appear together in a debate in Michigan 鈥� the first debate since the allegations against Cain broke.