Cain blames rival for leaking sex scandal

REPUBLICAN presidential candidate Rick Perry denied charges from rival Herman Cain that his campaign was responsible for leaking accusations of sexual harassment that have shaken Cain’s 2012 White House bid.

“There’s not anybody in my campaign that knew anything about this, that’s associated with my campaign, in any form or fashion, end of story. This is one of those things that’s about as clear cut as I can tell you,” Perry told conservative website RedState.com.

The sexual harassment scandal surrounding Cain, a leading Republican presidential candidate, deepened as another woman accused him of inappropriate behaviour when he headed a restaurant industry lobbying group in the 1990s.

The woman’s account came as Cain tried unsuccessfully to divert attention from the controversy.

Cain has been accused by at least three woman of sexual harassment when he was head of the National Restaurant Association in the mid-1990s. The issue has been at the front and centre in recent days in the race for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination to face President Barack Obama, a Democrat, in the November 2012 election.

Cain, who is leading polls of Republican voters, has blamed both the media and the Perry campaign for spreading information about the case in order to undercut his upstart campaign.

Perry stands to benefit most from a collapse of Cain’s campaign with the two fighting to become the conservative alternative to the moderate Mitt Romney.

Most analysts believe Cain would eventually stumble anyway, as the former pizza executive has little political experience and has recently suffered a series of stumbles.

But the 65-year-old has surged ahead of Romney in national polls and in Iowa, the state that holds the first US nominating contest of 2012 on January 3.

An extended controversy over Cain may help no one in the Republican race to find a challenger to Obama, whose slide in the polls has stopped and who may be gaining traction with his criticism of Republican lawmakers for blocking his jobs legislation.

“While hurling unfounded accusations may serve as a temporary distraction from Mr Cain’s mounting troubles, we hope we can all get on with the serious business of selecting the best candidate to defeat Barack Obama,” Perry spokesman Ray Sullivan said.

The Cain controversy has spread through both the Perry camp as well as that of former Massachusetts Governor Romney, who Perry aides suggested was behind the leak. Romney’s campaign denied this.

Cain told Forbes magazine he believes a former employee who now works for Perry, Curt Anderson, was the source of the story.

Anderson denied it, saying: “I have great respect for Herman and his character and I would never speak ill of him, on the record or off the record.”

Joel Bennett, a lawyer for one of the women who have made accusations against Cain, said his client had decided not to go public in order to shield herself from a media frenzy.

Bennett said he would send a draft statement of his client’s position to the National Restaurant Association, seeking approval for the statement to be released despite her confidentiality agreement.

Bennett had earlier said his client wanted to be released from a confidentiality agreement that has barred her from speaking about her interaction with Cain.