Deja Who All Over Again?

He says he may run again. Presumably because his first campaign had such a huge and lasting impact.

Remember When He was the Talk of the Town?

How quickly fame fades ...

Devil's Advocacy

Herman Cain says, once again, that he didn't do it (but that he's "reassessing" his presidential candidacy [hat tip -- Christy Waters]).

And hey, who knows? Maybe this really is an orchestrated smear campaign against a guy who doesn't deserve it.

But, I'd like to take one component of that argument and aim it in the other direction. I'll grab said component from The Other McCain, because linking to him always pays for itself in added traffic, and because he's a fair example of how that component normally plays.

McCain quotes ABC News on the latest accuser, Ginger White:

Ginger White ... has liens and civil judgments in Kentucky and Georgia dating back to 1994.

Eleven of those liens have been filed since 2009, with nine in 2011. The owners of her apartment complex in Dunwoody, Georgia have sued her for non-payment of rent nearly every month since the beginning of the year.

And that seems to be typical of Cain's accusers -- a history of financial problems, marital problems and even prior or subsequent sexual harassment claims.

It looks pretty bad, doesn't it? It's easy to conclude that Cain's accusers are just habitual gold-diggers.

BUT.

Just as predators in the wild kingdom look for the limping gazelle, human sexual predators look for the vulnerable woman.

The high school girl who gets sexually abused by a teacher isn't usually the head cheerleader or the student body president. She's the insecure girl without a lot of friends. Maybe she's a little overweight and doesn't feel attractive. Maybe she's only got one parent at home and is left to her own devices most evenings. Maybe she just had a bad breakup with her first boyfriend. Whatever it is, there's some niche in her armor that the adult can exploit.

Is it really any different in adulthood? The adult (non-murderous -- those look for different kinds of vulnerability) sexual predator doesn't go after the financially secure woman in a happy marriage. He goes after the woman with financial problems and an unsatisfactory love life, precisely because she seems like the easiest target to reach and manipulate. She's looking for a job; he can hire her. She's behind on the rent; he can help out. She's got no one occupying her bed; he wants to.

If Herman Cain is a sexual harasser and philanderer, I'd expect the women he's been involved with to look ... well ... exactly like his accusers.

But of course, if he is not a sexual abuser or philanderer, I'd expect the women accusing him to look like that too. Sexual predators aren't the only kind out there. Political predators hunt the same kind of game.

Cain may be a predator. Or he may be prey. Either way, he's done.






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Photo of Herman Cain by Gage Skidmore

Piling On (the Toppings)

As a presidential candidate, Herman Cain has frequently cited his experience as CEO of Godfather's Pizza, a franchise he turned around into profitability for Pillsbury, then headed up a buyout of and took independent.

So, the question had to come up sooner or later: Is Godfather's pizza any good?

ABC's Lauren Torrisi reviews it:

The cheese sticks were pretty good. Put cheese on something that tastes like it has been soaking overnight in butter and I'm game. Sprinkle some dried oregano on it and you've upgraded it to "fancy" fast food. Then, dip it in marinara sauce and you've got yourself a well-rounded meal. I was happy.

The "Humble" pie wasn’t as fantastic. I was hoping that their signature pizza would have more pizzazz.

Time for a second opinion. Mine.

Like Torrisi, I visited a convenience store Godfather's outlet -- a Huck's on the corner of I-170 and Natural Bridge just outside St. Louis ... a few minutes west of the main setting for this Nelly ditty (I live between the two points):



So anyway, I think more of the pizza than Torrisi does, but I don't go for the Humble Pie. If you're looking for pizzazz, the Godfather's pizza you want to order is the "Hot Stuff" -- pepperoni, beef, Italian sausage, jalapenos and onions. I usually add black olives to that, and get generous with the crushed red pepper. You want pizzazz? This will take the roof right off your mouth, but there's flavor in addition to just plain heat.

The standard Godfather's crust is roughly the equivalent of Pizza Hut's "hand-tossed," and I do mean roughly: Unlike the Pizza Hut version, it actually has, um, flavor. As Torrisi mentions with respect to the breadsticks, it's a sort of buttery flavor.

Godfather's is generous with the cheese and the toppings, too. The "mini" size is pretty much a full meal even for a big eater like me.

I live within a quick hop of (about the same distance as from Godfather's) Pizza Hut, Little Caesar's, Cecil Whittaker's, Papa John's, et. al, and within the delivery areas of Domino's and Imo's, and there are some very good places within a reasonably close drive (Talayna's is the best, but also Racanelli's and Frank & Helen's and Bada-Bing).

But when I'm jonesing for a quick, convenient pizza (as opposed to one of the high-end sit-down experiences), I don't think twice -- Godfather's is my go-to joint. They're fast, they're courteous, they're inexpensive and they hands-down make the best pizza for anything like the price. The kids seem to like it too.

I still don't vote. If I voted, I still wouldn't vote Republican. And if I voted Republican, I still wouldn't vote for Cain. But I won't put down the man's pizza.

Not Exactly "Woman on the Street" Reaction, But ...

Tamara does her best not to pay any attention to the Republican primaries, but she happened to be looking over my shoulder here on the blog, and saw this picture by Gage Skidmore. Her immediate response: "He looks like he's about to tell a lie."

Just sayin' ...

Breaking the Silence

I just can't bear the burden of remaining quiet about this any more. Day after day, as new details have emerged, the weight of that burden has grown.

Therefore, I now choose to lay that burden down, in public, just to set the record straight and put an end to the rumors and whispers.

So, let me state unequivocally: I have never been sexually harassed by Herman Cain.

That is all.

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Photo by Gage Skidmore

Cain Agonistes

Latest (per the Guardian):

The National Restaurant Association is expected to announce on Friday whether it will publish a statement from one of the women who accused Herman Cain of inappropriate behaviour when he was chairman of the organisation.

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Photo by Gage Skidmore

Whodunit?

One of the fun parts of any political campaign scandal is trying to figure out who leaked the thing to the press.

Speculation over who leaked such details as we now know about Herman Cain's sexual harassment settlements as CEO of the National Restaurant Association seems to be centered around whether the leak came from the Romney campaign or the Perry campaign.

My guess -- and I think we'll know at some point whether I'm right -- is that it came from either the Bachmann campaign or ... the Cain campaign.

Here's my cui bono logic:

- Romney is running neck and neck with Cain in Iowa. If he was behind this, it would have come out right before the Iowa caucus, so that Cain wouldn't have time to respond, and so that former Cain supporters wouldn't have time to coalesce around another candidate. If this thing came from the Romney camp, it was a rogue supporter, not a campaign operation.

- Perry is intentionally and specifically dialing back expectations in Iowa. He's not a contender there, so he's writing it off and focusing on later states. The best outcome for him would be for Cain to go into Iowa strong and hurt Romney badly there. It makes no sense at all for this thing to be coming from the Perry campaign.

There are two candidates who stand to benefit most, and one who stands to be harmed least, by this thing happening when it happened.

Michele Bachmann and Ron Paul are both behind Romney and Cain in Iowa. This could help either or both of them, but if so, they need a few weeks to capitalize on it. In other words, the timing is perfect for them.

The whole thing isn't really Paul's style, but it is Bachmann's.

Iowa is, realistically, Bachmann's last stand. She romps there or she is out either that night or right after the New Hampshire primary. Paul's in it for the long haul regardless, because that's just how he rolls.

Finally, at least one DC lobby ("Concerned Women for America") that seems to be in the tank for Bachmann was primed and ready with pointed questions for Cain on the very evening the story broke.

Bachmann is the prime suspect. She has the most to gain, she's the most desperate to get back into contention, as a female she's best positioned to capitalize on allegations of another candidate's misogyny, and her backers seem to have been prepped to exploit.

The only other possibility I see is that the Cain campaign brought this thing out themselves. They knew it was going to come out some time in the next 12 months, and this was the least bad time for it to do so -- with their man on top and with several weeks to do damage control before the Iowa caucus. Better now than on the Friday before Super Tuesday, or on the last Friday in October 2012.

Candidates Are Just Too Long-Winded ...

For example:

I don't think the war in Iraq was a mistake ...

Everything after the first three words there is redundant.

Election 2012: GOP Handicapping Update

Yeah, it's been awhile since I did one of these, but the Iowa straw poll results are too interesting not to do an update.

Random thoughts:

- I always expect Ron Paul to do well in events like this, where supporter enthusiasm and intense grassroots focus can make a big difference. I didn't expect him to come within 152 votes of winning it. In 2007, he came in a distant 5th place. This time he came in a close second -- and got more votes than the winner (Mitt Romney) did in 2007. I'm not a Paul supporter, but it's certainly an interesting datum.

- I'm well aware of the danger of writing a candidate off this early. Remember, I predicted John McCain as the 2008 GOP nominee in late May/early June of 2007, when everyone else was taking bets on when he'd shut down his campaign and bow out.

That said, I think Romney's done. He's not in the same position as McCain was in mid-2007 -- apparently on his last legs. He's been the presumptive front-runner for months now ... and the old "I'm not going to actively campaign for the Ames vote" gambit just doesn't cover 7th place, 3.4%, 9/10ths of a percent behind write-in candidate Rick Perry, behind Herman Cain, behind Rick Santorum, behind Tim Pawlenty.

A day or so ago -- before the poll began, anyway -- I commented over at Eric "Master Shake" Dondero's site that if this was a keno slip, the four names I'd pick to end up on the 2008 GOP ticket were Bachmann, Perry, Romney and Cain, with Cain the only one not having a real shot at the top slot but a good shot at veep.

Now I'm down to three spots. Romney isn't going to be the presidential nominee, nor is he likely to want to be vice-president, nor is he the kind of candidate you pick for vice-president anyway. He isn't needed to carry Utah, nor can he be expected to roll New England into the Republican camp. Cain, on the other hand, would bring business acumen to the ticket, is from the all-important south, and yes, might put the black vote in play.

Things can always change, but for now at least I'm calling it a Bachmann-Perry contest for the nomination. And no, I'm just not seeing either one of them beating Obama. But like I said, things can always change.