Cain blames media, Perry for furor

WASHINGTON (AP) — Herman Cain is defending himself anew and — without evidence — blaming presidential rival Rick Perry's campaign of being behind the disclosure of years-old sexual harassment allegations against him.

Cain is pressing forward, even as a third woman says she considered filing a complaint against him over sexually suggestive remarks and gestures.

"That is the DC culture: Guilty until proven innocent," Cain told Ginni Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, in an interview published today on The Daily Caller website.

As the allegations rocked his campaign for the fourth day, the Georgia businessman's team intensified its claim that Perry's advisers or allies were the source of the initial story — in Politico — on Sunday night. It disclosed that the National Restaurant Association had reached financial settlements with two former employees who complained the Cain had engaged in sexually inappropriate behavior while head of the trade group in the 1990s.

Perry, himself, denied that he and his campaign were involved in anyway.