Critics trying to derail my White House bid: Cain

THE Cain train drives on.

Despite his campaign being rocked by new allegations of a 13-year extra-marital affair, a feisty Herman Cain claimed a “groundswell of positive support” from backers last night and accused critics of trying to derail his White House bid.

“They’re attacking my character, my reputation and my name in order to try to bring me down,” Cain told a crowd, without naming his critics.

“But, you see, I don’t believe that America is going to let that happen.”

Questions about the campaign’s viability hovered over Cain’s one-day bus tour through Ohio.

It came a day after the Republican candidate told staff he was re-reassessing his campaign after Ginger White, an Atlanta businesswoman, alleged that she and Cain had had a long-running sexual affair.

“We are reassessing as we speak. Reassessment means reevaluation,” Cain told reporters after his well-received speech.

He gave no indication to the audience that he was considering abandoning his bid, despite telling staff that he would make a decision in the next few days about whether to continue it.

Cain received a standing ovation after he spoke about what a “Cain administration” would do. He said that while some people predicted the room would be empty, “I don’t see any empty seats”.

“It’s been a groundswell of positive support,” Cain insisted to reporters later, even as some backers in early voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire, who stuck by him after decade-old allegations of sexual harassment surfaced several weeks ago, now indicate they were abandoning him.

Cain’s latest turmoil comes just five weeks before the first votes are cast in the state-by-state march to the nomination.

The earlier sexual harassment accusations have taken a toll on both his standing in polls and, supporters say, his fundraising. Prominent conservatives who rushed to his defence earlier this month were all but silent when White stepped forward on Monday to accuse Cain of a consensual sexual relationship that ended this year, before he became a White House candidate.

Cain denies the affair, and in a letter addressed to “patriots and supporters”, called her allegations “completely false” and labelled her “troubled”.

White steadfastly stood by her assertion in an interview on ABC and said she was “disappointed” by Cain’s characterisation of her.

She called her relationship with Cain “a very casual affair” that lasted more than a dozen years.

“I’m not here to say anything negative about Mr Cain,” White said, although she added that she did not think he should be president.

She elaborated on her claims, saying she took several trips with Cain, including a flight to Las Vegas to see a Mike Tyson-Evander Holyfield boxing match.

She also claimed she had “consistently” received gifts and money from Cain over the past two-and-a-half years, but said it was “not sex for cash”.

Since then some Cain supporters have started to defect.