Herman Cain's polling numbers have been falling. The allegations of sexual harassment have taken a toll. So, DCDecoder wasn't even sure it was worth posting about the latest embarrassing revelation to hit the Cain campaign.
But this particular detail - where Ginger White, the woman claiming to have had a 13-year adulterous relationship with Herman Cain, gives the reporters from Fox 5 in Atlanta her cell phone bill and the reporters text one of the numbers and get a callback from Cain himself - was just too much to pass up.
Accordting to Fox TV 5 in Atlanta:
She [Ginger White] showed us some of her cell phone bills that included 61 phone calls or text messages to or from a number starting with 678. She says it is Herman Cain’s private cell phone. The calls were made during four different months— calls or texts made as early as 4:26 in the early morning, and as late as 7:52 at night. The latest were in September of this year.
“We’ve never worked together,” said White. “And I can’t imagine someone phoning or texting me for the last two and a half years, just because.”
We texted the number and Herman Cain called us back. He told us he “knew Ginger White” but said these are “more false allegations.” He said she had his number because he was “trying to help her financially.”
Some other intriguing details: According to White, Cain gave her autographed copies of his books, writing, “Miss G, you have already made a ‘big difference!’ Stay focused as you pursue your next destination” in one, and “Friends are forever! Everything else is a bonus” in the other.
And then there’s Ms. White’s description of the candidate himself:
“Very much confident, very much sure of himself. Very arrogant in a playful sometimes way. Very, ah — Herman Cain loves Herman Cain.”
She told Fox that she decided to come forward after she saw how Cain was handling the allegations of sexual harassment by other women. “It bothered me that they were being demonized, sort of, they were treated as if they were automatically lying, and the burden of proof was on them,” White said. “I felt bad for them.”
Will any of this change the outcome of the Republican presidential campaign? Is it as relevant as the sexual harassment allegations?
As The Christian Science Monitor's Amanda Paulson writes: "Even if true, allegations of a consensual affair are far different than the sexual-harassment allegations that surfaced last month, as Cain's lawyer pointed out in a statement to the Atlanta news station.
"No individual, whether a private citizen, a candidate for public office or a public official, should be questioned about his or her private sexual life," Lin Wood, Cain's attorney, wrote. "The public's right to know and the media's right to report has boundaries and most certainly those boundaries end outside of one's bedroom door. Mr. Cain has alerted his wife to this new accusation and discussed it with her. He has no obligation to discuss these types of accusations publicly with the media and he will not do so even if his principled position is viewed unfavorably by members of the media."
And Paulson notes: "Cain would hardly be the only candidate with sexual indiscretions in his past. It's a category that includes Newt Gingrich, the current GOP front-runner, who is on his third marriage and has had at least two extramarital affairs (with women he later married)."
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