Playbook 2012_ The Right Fights Back (Politico Inside Election 2012) - Mike Allen [24]
The fun ended for Cain on Sunday morning, October 30, or, possibly, a few days earlier. Outside the Washington bureau of CBS downtown, Cain was leaving the set of Face the Nation when he was approached by POLITICO reporter Jonathan Martin. For more than a week, Martin and several other POLITICO staffers had been working on a story that Cain had been accused of sexual harassment during his time as head of the National Restaurant Association. POLITICO’s digging showed that in the late 1990s, as a fun-loving boss residing on weekdays in Washington apart from his wife and family (who continued to live in Omaha, Nebraska), Cain had sometimes indulged in humor and physical jests with the sort of suggestive innuendo that, at least in the opinion of two younger female employees, crossed the line into sexual harassment. Two of the women had filed complaints with the restaurant association and left the organization with financial packages and nondisclosure agreements typical in these matters. The most explosive reporting was that one woman claimed he invited her to his hotel room and made “an unwanted sexual advance.” POLITICO eventually found six people who knew details of the tense encounter. Off the record, reporters were given much more vivid accounts. Within a week, at least a half dozen women were making allegations to reporters across Washington. For ten days, beginning on Thursday, October 20, Martin and other POLITICO reporters sought a response from the Cain campaign. POLITICO emailed campaign manager Block and spokesman J. D. Gordon with the name of one of the women who had allegedly taken a cash payment from the restaurant association and signed a nondisclosure agreement. On Saturday night, October 29, Martin emailed the Cain campaign to say that POLITICO was in “the final stages” of a story reporting on the sexual harassment charges—and pleaded with the campaign to put Cain on the phone. When he got no response, Martin decided to drive down to the CBS Washington bureau on Sunday morning.
Martin did not want to confront Cain while there were other reporters standing around outside the bureau, so he waited until Cain had walked down the block to sign some autographs from passing tourists. “Mr. Cain,” the reporter said, “I’m Jonathan Martin of POLITICO. I’m working on a story about two allegations of sexual harassment during your time at the National Restaurant Association. Do you have a comment on that, sir?”
Cain began by saying that he had been in business for years and “it’s real easy for someone to make these accusations.” Martin said he had the names of two women. Cain cut in, “But you won’t tell us who these people are.” Martin said that POLITICO had given his campaign the name of one of the women, and then repeated the name. Cain said nothing. A security man intervened, saying, “Step back.”
Martin tried again. “Have you ever been accused, sir, of sexual harassment?”
Cain responded, “Have you ever been accused of sexual harassment?”
“Have a nice day,” said Martin, and headed back to his car.
The inevitable feeding frenzy was on. Cain meant to spend the next day talking about his economic plan to the National Press Club, the American Enterprise Institute, and various news outlets. But he was surrounded by reporters who wanted to know about his alleged misdeeds. He struggled with damage control. He denied any impropriety, but offered shifting explanations. At first he said he knew nothing about any financial settlements, but then amended his answer to admit an “agreement” to pay one of the women. He tried to suggest his behavior had been essentially harmless—teasing a woman about her height—but acknowledged that the woman might have felt uncomfortable.
Right-wing bloggers and talkers rallied to Cain as the victim of a liberal media