Pop quiz: you’re a Republican presidential candidate who was doing pretty well in the polls but decided to “suspend” your campaign over accusations of sexual harassment and a 13-year affair with a woman you provided with financial assistance. What do you do?
Create a political action committee, of course! And that seems to be just what Herman Cain plans to do, announcing “The Cain Solutions” in an email to supporters on Monday.
“I will continue to be your voice and our voice. We will make 9-9-9 a movement. We will put ‘strength’ back into Peace through Strength and Clarity. We will become energy independent. We will put ‘united’ back into the United States of America,” Cain wrote. He continued:
With your continued help and support, The Cain Solutions is designed to change the dynamics in Washington, D.C. The critics will say this can’t be done. Remember, these are the same critics who did not think we would make it as far as we did in the Republican presidential nominating contest.
The group — which will focus on the “crises” of “Economic growth,” “Sound money” and
“Energy independence” — hasn’t yet filed paperwork with the Federal Elections Commission. Its bare-bones website has the slogan “Not POLITICIANS. Not MEDIA OUTLETS. The PEOPLE.”
Cain’s campaign still owes him $675,000 in outstanding loans, as of his last available campaign finance report. The campaign had struggled financially at times but was believed to be on good financial footing in the fall (even if it had spent thousands of dollars on Cain’s book).
Money Cain collected during his campaign is subject to “hard” money limitations, but once is debt is paid off, Cain could theoretically transform his campaign into either a PAC or a so-called “super PAC,” provided he create a separate account for “soft” money.
Cain is scheduled to appear on Sean Hannity’s Fox News program on Monday night.
