Congressional Republicans on Tuesday said presidential hopeful Herman Cain can survive the sexual harassment accusations that have besieged his surging campaign, but that the business executive still must prove he has what it takes to be the Republican nominee.
“I think if the election were held tomorrow in South Carolina, he would win,” Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told The Washington Examiner. But, Graham added, “He’s got to convince people he’s ready to be president of the United States.”
Republican senators were scheduled to meet with Cain over dinner Tuesday night, the second day in which Cain was rebutting accusations that he sexually harassed two female employees at a restaurant association he led in the 1990s. Politico first reported that the association reached five-figure settlements with the women, who then left the organization.
Cain has denied the harassment charges, and his campaign said he received $400,000 in contributions in the 24 hours after the accusations surfaced. But the dispute has engulfed his campaign just as Cain was emerging as a top-tier competitor for the nomination.
Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., said he is waiting to see “how this all plays out,” but insists Cain, a political neophyte, is a serious candidate and not, as critics charge, running for president just to sell copies of his new book.
“There is no question he is serious and a lot of Americans think he is serious,” DeMint said.
Graham and others assert Cain is being unfairly targeted by the media. What Cain did to offend the women is not known. Cain at first denied knowing anything about the association’s settlements with the women, but later acknowledged the payout while denying any wrongdoing.
Cain’s evolving story raised questions about his truthfulness. Still, Republicans said they expect him to survive.
“If nothing new comes out, I think it’s going to be fine,” Graham said. “At the end of the day, he wasn’t found guilty in court of doing anything wrong. Settlements happen all over America with corporations. I don’t think it’s going to have a substantial effect at all.”
Fellow Republicans who jumped to Cain’s defense asserted that the attacks on the party’s only black candidate were racially motivated.
In his latest appearance on Fox News late Tuesday, Cain said he believes he’s the target of a coordinated attack.
“Because I am an unconventional candidate running an unconventional campaign and achieving some unconventional results in terms of the polls, we believe that, yes, there are some people who are Democrats, liberals, who do not want me to win the nomination and there could be some people on the right who do not want to see me win because I am not the, quote unquote, establishment candidate.”
Lawmakers just getting to know Cain say they’re still looking for evidence that he’s ready to be president. They voiced concerns about Cain’s thinly staffed campaign organization and his CEO-style reliance on others in making important decisions.
“I think that is a weakness he would have to address,” said Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala. “A president ultimately has to make those decisions.”
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who fended off accusations in his 2010 campaign that he kidnapped a classmate back in college, said he believes the public will give Cain the benefit of the doubt.
“I think he’ll be given some forgiveness,” Paul said, “just because people don’t see him as a politician.”
