• Comment (2)

Cain Campaign Follows Clinton in Coping with Allegations

Experts say his PR plan hasn't been all bad - or without precedent

November 8, 2011 RSS Feed Print

Herman Cain's decision to hold a press conference Tuesday to address the latest accusations of sexual harassment levied against him indicates his campaign is finally capitulating to conventional public relations tactics in order to deal with the political firestorm.

Cain, who has recently led national polls for the GOP presidential nomination, has had to defend himself against allegations of sexual harassment from a number of women during his time as president of the National Restaurant Association in the late 1990's.

And though many have criticized his campaign's reaction to the charges – which has taken turns attacking the media and the women making the claims – others point to what Cain has gotten right.

[Cain bungles scandal management 101.]

Paul Gigot is the editorial page editor for the Wall Street Journal and host of the Journal Editorial Report on the Fox News Channel. On a recent show, he asked panelists why Cain didn't "pre-emptively" put the story about old allegations out in hopes of owning it instead of being forced to react.

"If you knew that this existed, why wouldn't you preemptively get this out? Because inevitability, in modern politics, this is what happens. Every story comes out. You are under withering scrutiny," he said.

But David Woodard, GOP political consultant and professor at Clemson University, says it didn't make sense for Cain to sabotage himself when he was a marginal candidate, but agreed that the best defense in politics is a good offense.

"He shouldn't have said anything about it at first when he polled at one percent, but at some point, they had to say something," he says. "The Clinton campaign had someone in charge of bimbo eruptions. They knew at the very beginning that they had a problem and it was their job to go out and discredit these women."

But you've got to be prepared and I think that what everybody is saying and thinking is (Cain) isn't handling this very well," he added.

[See political cartoons of the 2012 GOP hopefuls.]

Anna Greenberg of Greenberg Quinlan Rosner, a Democratic campaign consulting and polling firm, also cites the Clinton campaign as an example of a campaign well-equipped for trouble they knew was coming. And she agrees with Woodard that it didn't make sense for the Cain campaign to self-report the allegations at the beginning of his candidacy.

"I honestly think it would be a bit of a mistake to come out and fess up to it—because you don't know that it's going to come out because it's not in the public record," she says. "It just seems like a big risk to take."

Cain is scheduled to hold a press conference in Phoenix at 5 p.m. ET today to take on the latest allegations, which were lobbed against him on Monday by Sharon Bialek.

Bialek is the first accuser to come forward publicly with specifics of Cain's alleged behavior. In 1997, Cain reached up her skirt and pushed her head down towards his crotch after a dinner meeting, she said.

Two other women reportedly received settlements of tens of thousands of dollars from the NRA and signed non-disclosure agreements after they alleged sexual harassment by Cain during his tenure as president of the group.

The former CEO of Godfather's Pizza has been married to his wife, Gloria, for more than 40 years.

Tags:
Herman Cain,
campaigns

Reader Comments Read all comments (2)

Add Your Thoughts
Your comment will be posted immediately, unless it is spam or contains profanity. For more information, please see our Comments FAQ.

CAIN’S FUNDAMENTAL CONTRADICTIONS AND LOW BLOW PERFORMANCE

Mr. Cain and his lawyer’s performance at Cain’s media conference in Arizona is truly a disgrace that should warrant the unequivocal condemnation of all women and women’s groups throughout the United States. At the conference, Cain raged about people saying “baseless” things about him; yet he made several speculative statements about others people at that gathering, including speculating about the source and motive for the original story. He quotes his wife; but says no one should talk to his wife or family. Cain later goes after his accuser’s financial situation and character. If any body’s character is in question, it is Cain’s, not her victim’s. There is a pattern here. He cannot brush off these allegations by making jokes of them at a comedy show venue or by bragging that his fundraising has skyrocketed. Firstly, the first two accusations constrained the NRA to pay out nearly $80,000 in sexual harassment settlement to two women who used to work for Mr. Cain. So far, Cain has no credible explanation for that and has instead given very contradictory stories. The fourth woman is one among a line of accusers. This vulnerable woman appears to have shown class by rejecting Mr. Cain’s advances. I suppose that if she had done otherwise, Mr. Cain would have found her a job at the NRA or somewhere else. Furthermore, she came forward with her story no apparent or proven proof of financial gain. The media is now tracking a fifth woman. How could Cain continue to delude himself with his theatrics and his superlative assertion that all his accusers lied and only himself is the truth-teller in this scandalous affair. There are two other troubling issues: THE COLLAPSE OF 1) CAIN’S END OF RACISM MANTRA 2) CAIN’S THE BUSINESS MAN CRISIS MANAGEMENT MANTRA. The “straight talker” is no longer talking straight, and never really has! Cain, from the start of the campaign, presented himself as one who does not believe in a racist America. If you are unemployed, “blame yourself,” he thunders. He was against minimum wage, of course, and would be quite happy to increase his fortune by setting up sweat shops throughout the country. His handlers and backers saw him as the Republican proof of a black man who does not shout to America, as some black leaders are wont to do, that racism exists. However, as soon as Cain was accused of sexual harassment, his first instinct was to play the racism card as Uncle Justice Thomas did before him. They both talked about “high tech lynching. Cain has continued the baseless charge that his continued media exposure on this issue is racially-motivated and media-motivated. Strange world! The third issue is all the initial noise about Cain’s business experience. As we now know, he has proven himself completely inept as a manager, especially a crisis manager. Yet, this bozo wants to be our President. He says he wants to turn his attention on politics, on foreign policy. Yet, he is so shallow and ignorant on world affairs. He is insulting to China and all the "Stan" nations. He is not forthcoming with the truth of his indiscretions. He is now facing a challenge of character and morality. He even has a convicted crook running his campaign. And he still wants to be President. He is really "dreaming in colors." However, it does seem that the Party of so-called “moral majority” in reality doesn’t care about morality at all. All they care about is power and control over other people—women, minorities, gays, lesbians, the poor and unemployed! They seem not to care about Cain’s moral deficit! Republicans will see the folly of their current death with their alignment with losers like Mr. Cain and Perry. Democrats would wish nothing more. My suspicion is that Mr. Cain is probably the only one who does not yet know that it is over—as far as his Presidential ambition is concerned!

Dr. Sam of CA 6:42PM November 08, 2011

Save your money, Your DONE

figexch of NY 5:38PM November 08, 2011

Photo Galleries

Storms, Wildfires Tear Across U.S.

Heavy rain, high winds and fire continue to plague regions throughout the country.

advertisement

Latest Videos