Herman Cain said Friday he will announce his presidential campaign’s next steps in Atlanta this weekend amid uncertainty over whether he will stay in the race following allegations of an extramarital affair.
Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain campaigned in Murfreesboro, Tenn., Thursday. He is scheduled to hold a town hall at 1 p.m. today in South Carolina, and return to Georgia this afternoon.
The McDonough businessman said he would make the announcement at the grand opening of his Georgia campaign headquarters Saturday morning.
“I am reassessing because of all of this media firestorm stuff,” he said during a campaign stop in Rock Hill, S.C. “Why? Because my wife and my family come first.”
Cain also indicated his campaign is looking at its flow of financial contributions following the allegations of the affair.
“I don’t doubt the support that I have. Just look at the people who are here,” he said of the supporters who had gathered to see him in South Carolina. “We have to look at what happens to contributions. We have to reevaluate the whole strategy.”
“Tomorrow in Atlanta I will be making an announcement, but nobody is going to get me to make that prematurely. That is all that there is to that. Tomorrow we will be opening our headquarters in… Georgia where we will also clarify… exactly what the next steps are.”
Cain previously said he will return to Georgia Friday and, after gauging his wife’s support, decide whether to continue his presidential campaign.
Supporters are urging Cain to stay in the race, but polls show his support is slipping. Cain said the string of allegations against him has begun to hurt his fundraising. But the campaign is operating as usual — crafting campaign ads, soliciting volunteers and going forward with plans to hold a rally and open house in DeKalb County on Saturday.
Cain supporters think he can recover from accusations of sexual harassment from several women and a Dunwoody woman’s claim this week to have carried on a 13-year extramarital affair with him.
Cain has denied all the accusations, and that’s enough for supporters like state Sen. Josh McKoon, one of Cain’s top champions in the General Assembly.
Source: Atlanta Journal Constitution | Aaron Gould Sheinin, Daniel Malloy and Jeremy Redmon
BCNN1 WP 