Premium ContentMouse over Home then click on Premium Content for information.Herman Cain's unequivocal denials that he ever sexually harassed any woman appeared to rally his Iowa supporters, but even his most ardent backers say there is a limit to how many accusations Cain can survive.
Several Iowa Republicans argued that Cain was being victimized by the news media and women with questionable motives.
Others, including an influential leader with the state's Christian right, said many Iowans appear to be giving Cain the benefit of the doubt while waiting to see how the controversy "plays out."
Bob Vander Plaats, president of the Family Leader, said Iowans will not rush to judgment against Cain. They want to know all the facts before they determine whether there is merit to the allegations, said Vander Plaats.
"Can he survive it? I would say yes. Iowans are very fair-minded people, just like Nebraskans. The story for them is still unfolding," Vander Plaats said.
Cain shot to the top of the polls this summer and fall in Iowa — home to the nation's first presidential test — stumping across the state and firing up Republicans with his pro-business platform and his folksy attacks on President Barack Obama. Several polls consistently placed Cain as the front-runner in Iowa, including polls taken earlier this month, before the latest allegations.
However, his campaign ran into trouble about two weeks ago, when reports surfaced that two unnamed women had filed sexual harassment complaints against Cain and a third contemplated filing a complaint. The complaints came while he worked for the National Restaurant Association in the late 1990s.
A fourth woman came forward Monday and gave her name. Sharon Bialek said Cain groped her in a car in July 1997 after she asked him for help landing a job.
Cain held a press conference Tuesday in which he called all the allegations against him "baseless" and accused a "Democrat machine" of trying to keep a businessman from winning the White House.
Jeff Jorgensen, the head of the Pottawattamie County Republicans, said he believes Cain is telling the truth. He also said he thinks it was unfair for the media to go forward with stories based on anonymous sources.
Just because someone filed a sexual harassment complaint against Cain doesn't make it true, said Jorgensen, who has endorsed Cain.
"As it stands right now, Herman Cain is the only credible person in this whole media circus," Jorgensen said.
But, like many, Jorgensen said there is a limit to how many accusations Cain can withstand. How many, he did not know.
Republican Dick Baber said he believes Cain has run afoul of a nation bent on "political correctness." Baber, 79, who described himself as "old school," wondered whether the women who had complained about Cain were after money or had misunderstood something Cain said or did. He also said he didn't believe Bialek's claims.
"As far as I'm concerned, there was no sexual harassment in this case," said Baber, a Council Bluffs retiree who has not made up his mind on whom he will support in Iowa's caucuses.
Others said it was difficult to determine who was telling the truth. Several Iowa Republicans also said that, at some point, Cain may have to step down if any more women come forward with accusations.
"He can't survive much more," said Naomi Leinen, co-chair of the Pottawattamie County Republicans.
Leinen said she is giving Cain the "benefit of the doubt," and he remains one of her top-five candidates. But, she said, he has to put the controversy behind him quickly, because any candidate who wins the nomination must be able to defeat Obama.
Steve Scheffler, Iowa's Republican national committeeman, echoed Leinen's sentiments.
He said Cain cannot win the nomination if he is still being dogged by accusations and unanswered questions. "We cannot have a candidate where anything about his past becomes a distraction or a sideshow to defeating Barack Obama," Scheffler said.
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