Can Cain controversy crash candidacy?

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

Republican presidential hopeful Herman Cain struggled to overcome the storm of controversy from sexual-harassment accusations on Thursday as the threat of a damaging written statement by one of his accusers and his own shifting explanations left his efforts and even his candidacy in doubt.

“This will not deter me” in the race for the White House, Cain declared, repeatedly denying the allegations in interviews on conservative media outlets.

“Did you tell a woman she looked good?” radio host Sean Hannity asked. “That dress looks hot?”

“Nope.”

“Any flirtation that you can think of?”

“Nope,” Cain said firmly.

At the same time, he and aides tried to demonstrate a campaign returning to normalcy or even benefiting from the controversy.

Cain, a career businessman, had private meetings in New York during the day, including one on foreign policy with former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.

And campaign spokesman J.D. Gordon said donors had sent in $1.2 million since news of the allegations first surfaced, far above the customary amount for several days.

In a personal note, Cain said his wife, Gloria, was “still 200 percent supportive of me in this whole race, 200 percent supportive of me as her husband, because I haven’t done anything.”