So now the Herman Cain scandal has become a game of Clue, with both Cain and his allies claiming they hold the winning formula to who loosed the sexual harassment story that’s threatening to derail Cain’s longshot campaign.
Cain’s implying Rick Perry did it through consultant Curt Anderson, who once worked for Cain when he ran for Senate and now works for a firm that consults for Perry. Meanwhile, Rush Limbaugh’s insinuating that Mitt Romney did it through a different person who also shares the surname “Anderson” – in this case former National Restaurant Association CEO Steven C. Anderson — now a Romney donor — who took the helm of the NRA after Cain’s contract ended in 1999.
Cain says his Anderson was privy to the information about the past sexual harassment allegations because he did a one-on-one interview with Cain about any skeletons in his closet in advance of his 1994 unsuccessful run for the Republican Senate nomination in Georgia. Cain explained the back story to Forbes‘ Richard Miniter:
“I told my wife about this in 1999 and I’ve got nothing to hide,” Cain told me Wednesday. “When I sat down with my general campaign consultant Curt Anderson in a private room in our campaign offices in 2003 we discussed opposition research on me. It was a typical campaign conversation. I told him that there was only one case, one set of charges, one woman while I was at the National Restaurant Association. Those charges were baseless, but I thought he needed to know about them. I don’t recall anyone else being in the room when I told him.”
Anderson denies he’s the source of the leak, as does the Perry campaign.
Meanwhile, Limbaugh is convinced his Anderson did the deed. Limbaugh got the idea from a blog called Northern Virginia Lawyer which tracked Steven Anderson’s giving to Romney as well as his tenure at the NRA. The blog said the donor Steven Anderson and the former NRA CEO Steven Anderson have the same address.
Limbaugh picked up the story on his show Wednesday:
President Obama or a rival campaign is the driving force behind the bombshell story that appeared in the Politico on Sunday. Reporters should follow-up with Mr. Anderson to discern his knowledge.
Romney’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The highly-detailed accusation from Cain is another shift in his constantly-changing story. At the National Press Club Tuesday, Cain said he didn’t know who he was behind the sexual harassment story, but he did suggest it was one of his rivals on the campaign trail.
“This bullseye on my back has gotten bigger,” Cain said. “We have no idea the source of this witch hunt, and that’s what this is.”
