Poll: Gingrich Benefitting Most From Cain's Departure

Former House Speaker and GOP presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich is basking in the aftermath of pizza mogul Herman Cain’s campaign suspension announcement on Saturday. 

According to a Poll Position survey, Gingrich now holds a double digit lead over former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney. Gingrich is likely reaping the benefits of Cain’s weekend announcement, raking in 37 percent support from likely voters. Romney, on the other hand, continues to rake in the 23 percent that he’s seen throughout the camapign. 

Reps. Ron Paul (R-Texas) and Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), along with Texas Governor Rick Perry, are only seeing single digits with 7, 6 and 3 percent, respectively. Jon Huntsman and Rick Santorum round up the GOP field, each earning 2 percent support.

Gingrich is now building a wider support base, specifically among conservatives who are searching for the best alternative to Romney. With Cain’s supporters now on the hunt for a new candidate to support, the remaining candidates are sure to see an influx, but the first post-Cain poll indicates that those voters are already signing on to the Gingrich campaign. 

With less than a month before the Iowa caucuses, the remaining candidates are making moves to shepherd the wandering Cain supporters. Perry is now calling himself “the only Washington outsider left,” and Bachmann said Sunday that a number of Cain supporters have been calling her campaign offices. 

With reports circling about a possible Cain endorsement of Gingrich, it’s clear the former Speaker will benefit most from the pizza mogul’s departure. 

Cain Flatly Denies Charges

GOP presidential hopeful Herman Cain is sticking by his claim that he never sexually harassed anyone during his time as head of the National Restaurant Association.

During a heavily watched news conference in Phoenix on Tuesday, the surprise contender rebuked new public allegations from a pair of women who said that he acted inappropriately toward them while they were employees of his.

“The charges and the accusations, I absolutely reject,” Cain said. “They simply didn’t happen.”

In response to claims made yesterday by a woman named Sharon Bialek, Cain said that his first thought upon seeing her on television was “I don’t even know who this woman is.”

“I tried to remember if I recognized her and I didn’t,” he said. He added that friends tell him he’s “pretty good” at remembering people “that have made some impression on me.”

Bialek, who was let go by the organization in 1997, alleged during a televised news conference in New York that Cain had groped her in his car after a dinner meeting in which she asked him for help finding a new job.

This afternoon, a federal government employee named Karen Kraushaar told the New York Times that Cain had harassed her while she worked under him. Before going public, Kraushaar had been previously identified by Politico as one of two female employees that received cash settlements as part of agreements to leave the company.

Cain said that he did recall the complaint lodged against him by Kraushaar, but denied any wrongdoing in the matter. Cain said that he had commented once to his accuser that she was the same height as his wife, Gloria. He held his hand flat out against his chin to demonstrate the gesture that he says made Kraushaar feel uncomfortable.

According to Cain, his wife of more than four decades isn’t buying any of the charges.

“I have known you for 46 years,” Cain said she told him. “That doesn’t even sound like anything you would ever do to anyone.”

Cain broadly accused the “Democrat machine” of creating the scandal, but sidestepped efforts by reporters to get him to clarify his assertion.

He then vowed to press on with his campaign.

“I will not be deterred by false accusations,” he defiantly proclaimed. “Ain’t gonna happen.”

Accuser Confronted Cain About Harassment at Tea Party Meet in October

 A woman who alleges Herman Cain sexually harassed her 14 years ago says she confronted him about the incident before a Tea Party event last month.

 In a press conference with her attorney Gloria Allred today in New York, Sharon Bialek told reporters Cain made inappropriate sexual advances after she asked him for help finding a new job in 1997. 

 Bialek says she got a chance to confront Cain about the incident almost a month ago, before an appearance at a Tea Party Conference event sponsored by WIND Chicago radio.

“I didn’t actually know he would be there but the night before, when my girlfriend told me, I went up to him and asked him: “ Do you remember me?”…I guess I wanted to see if he was going to be man enough to own up to what he had done some 14 years ago. He acknowledged that he remembered me from the Foundation, but he kind of looked uncomfortable and he said nothing as he was whisked away for his speech by his handlers.”

 “During his speech, he had that same infectious presence that we had come to know and command that he did when I heard him speak 14 years ago at the NRA. As I sat there in the audience I kept wondering to myself, had he done to other women what he had done to me and wether anyone was going to speak out about it.”

Bialek, a one time employee at the Educational Foundation of the National Restaurant Association,told reporters she first met Cain at the National Restaurant Association’s 1997 convention in Chicago, where she sat next to him during several luncheons and dinners. 

 Bialek says she had become friendly with Cain over the course of the 5 day convention and after seeing one of his “inspirational” keynote address at an event, even asked him when he would be running for President. Bialek says her and her boyfriend at the time sat at Cain’s table during the convention’s closing diner and joined him for an after-party in his hotel suite.

 Bialek says she was fired from the NRA Educational Foundation a month after the convention. She says she was never told why she was let go but that her boyfriend suggested she talk to Cain to see if he could help her get a new job.

Bialek says she called Cain’s office to schedule a meeting for coffee while she visited DC.  After making the plans, her boyfriend booked her a room at the capital Hilton and she let Cain know of her arrival dates.

“When I checked into the room I was shocked, I had a palatial suite and I said to the bellman there has to be some mistake but he insisted there was no mistake”.  Bialek said she initially thought her boyfriend had tried to surprise her, but when she met Cain at the hotel bar later that night, he told her he had gotten her an upgrade. 

 After drinks at the bar, she says they drove to an Italian restaurant for dinner.

 “During dinner Mr Cain looked at me and said “ Why are you here?” I said: “Actually Herman my boyfriend whom you met suggested that I meet with you, he though you could help me because I really need a job.” 

Bialek says that on the drive back to the hotel, Cain decided he would take her on a tour of the National Restaurant Association office.

“I thought we were going to go into on of the offices so he could show me around.”

Bialek says that in the car outside the National Restaurant Association offices, Cain tried to reach under her skirt for her genitals and then grabbed her head and tried to push it down towards his crotch.

“I was very very surprised and very very shocked. I said what are you doing? You know I have a boyfriend, this isn’t what I came her for. Mr Cain said: “You want a job right?“. I asked him to stop and he did. I asked him to take me back to my hotel room and he did right away.”

Bialek says that when she returned home to New Jersey, she told her boyfriend about Cain’s inappropriate behavior and later told another friend. 

 Her attorney Gloria Allred showed reporters two statements written under oath by the former boyfriend and friend, acknowledging that she had told them separately of the incident shortly after it had happened.

“I didn’t tell them the details because frankly I was very embarrassed that Mr. Cain had been sexually inappropriate to me.” Bialek said. “I didn’t file a complaint against Mr. Cain as some of the other women did, because I wasn’t employed by the foundation when this occurred” 

“But now I’m coming forward to give a face and a voice to those who maybe cannot or for whatever reasons do not wish to come forwards, and on behalf of all women who are sexually harassed in the work place but do not come out in fear of retaliation or public humiliation.”

 Allred said her client had no plans to file a lawsuit.

 “She is not filing any law suits, any claim against Mr. Cain or the Restaurant Association. She could have sold the story, she did not try and do so, she is not interested in doing so. She was interested in giving a voice to what happened to her.” 

Bialek, a registered Republican, says she wants Cain to admit to the charges, so the race for Presidential nomination could move forward without distractions. 

“I want you, Mr Cain, to come clean. Just admit what you did, admit you were inappropriate to people and then move forward. America is in a horrible turmoil as we all know. We need a leader who can set an example, which exemplifies the standards of a good person and moral character. Mr. Cain I implore you. Make this right, so that you and the country can move forward and focus on the real issues at hand.”

GOP Candidates Go At It Again Tonight

Nine Republican candidates for president will square off in Orlando, Florida tonight in the third GOP debate of this month.

Tonight’s lineup will feature Rick Perry, Mitt Romney, Ron Paul, Michele Bachmann, Jon Huntsman, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum, Herman Cain and Gary Johnson.

Johnson, the former New Mexico Governor who has largely been ignored thus far, is eager to prove he belongs with the rest of the field.

“Governor Johnson…will bring ideas and approaches to the challenges we face that would otherwise not be heard,” said campaign strategist Ron Nielson.

Meanwhile, the battle between Texas Governor Rick Perry and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney for frontrunner status will once again figure to be a top story line.

In Tampa ten days ago, Romney was widely credited with turning in a good, but unspectacular performance. However, he benefitted greatly from the attacks waged by others in the room against Perry over a host of issues.

Bachmann and Santorum, each with their eye on Iowa, where social conservatives will turn out en masse, both accused Perry of abusing his power as Governor to pass an executive order requiring young girls in the state of Texas to receive HPV vaccinations. Perry admitted that he was wrong to circumvent the legislature, but cited studies that have produced links between the sexually-transmitted disease and cervical cancer.

In addition, Paul, the offbeat congressman who frequently espouses ultra-libertarian views, accused Perry of raising taxes in Texas. Though Perry responded that he has reduced taxes while in office, the attack seemed to rattle him slightly.

Perry’s Tampa showing may have hurt him in at least two key primary states. A new poll conducted by Winthrop (S.C.) University showed Romney trailing Perry by only three percentage points among definite voters. And in New Hampshire, a new Suffolk University poll showed Romney leading the runner-up, Paul, by 27 points.

Tune into the Fox News Channel at 9:00 pm for all of tonight’s action. You can also click here to watch online.