The FINANCIAL — Republican presidential contender Herman Cain got upset with reporters and vowed he would never answer questions about allegations of sexual harassment a decade ago, which have hobbled his campaign.
Speaking after a one-on-one debate with rival Newt Gingrich on Saturday, Cain cut off reporters who asked about harassment allegations and suggested journalists who wanted answers were behaving unethically.
When one reporter tried to ask a question about the allegations, Cain cut him off. When another asked him if he planned to never address the allegations, he said: "You got it." Cain says his staff does not want him to respond to the stories.
He is struggling to get past allegations that he sexually harassed several female employees while he headed a restaurant trade group, claims that have dogged his unlikely challenge for the Republican nomination to oppose President Barack Obama.Cain debated Gingrich, another Republican presidential candidate. Conservative tea party organisers of the event had one off-limits topic — the sexual harassment allegations.
That would seem to be welcome news to Cain as he tries to refocus on issues such as the future of Social Security retirement benefits and Medicare health care coverage for the elderly — expected points of discussion with Gingrich.
Gingrich had nothing to gain by raising allegations of improper sexual behaviour by one of his rivals. The former House speaker has been divorced twice and married three times, including to his current wife, with whom he had an affair while married to his second wife.
Cain repeatedly has denied ever sexually harassing anyone, and his campaign said it was "looking to put this issue behind us".
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