All Republican Camps Deny Pushing Cain Allegations, Meanwhile Cain Raking In Record Amounts of Campaign $$$

The Hill asked all of the Republican primary contenders if they had anything to do with the Cain sexual harassment story and they all flatly denied it:

Every time one of the other campaigns gets a bad story they try to blame us,” said Perry spokesperson Mark Miner. “It’s way off-base. It’s completely inaccurate.”
Mitt Romney’s campaign issued a similar response. “We had absolutely nothing to do with it,” said Romney spokesperson Andrea Saul.

My money’s been on Mittens, but that’s just me. I could be wrong. I’m just basing it on hearsay.

The story received blanket coverage from news organizations Monday, threatening serious damage to Cain’s ascendant campaign.

Other GOP campaigns also vehemently denied being behind the story.

“We plan to go after Mr. Cain, and Romney and Perry for that matter, over issues like their support of bailouts and TARP,” said Ron Paul spokesman Jesse Benton. “Our campaign stays away from the personal attacks and mud slinging.”

Hogan Gidley, a spokesman for Rick Santorum, said they “had absolutely nothing to do with it.”

The campaign of Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) also denied any involvement. “It absolutely did not come from us,” Bachmann spokeswoman Alice Stewart said.

Spokespeople for former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) and former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman (R) also said their campaigns had no involvement in pushing the story.

Huntsman?! Yeah, right –  because when Cain’s supporters are freed up they’ll be stampeding straight to John Huntsman, baby!

Newt certainly has an interest, here, because that’s who a lot of Cain supporters will end up supporting if Cain implodes.

But so far, that remains to be seen.

In fact if anything, the story is helping with fundraising:

“Yesterday, with the firestorm, was one of our best fund-raising days online since the campaign started,” Cain told Laura Ingraham during the conservative host’s radio show this morning.

His campaign said he raised $300,000 online since Politico broke a story Sunday alleging that two women accused Cain of sexual harassment in the 1990s when he was head of the National Restaurant Association. They both allegedly received settlements.

One Cain campaign consultant said yesterday was the “single biggest fundraising Monday in the campaign’s history.” He added that the outpouring of support shows, “the article upset a lot of his supporters, and his supporters are ardent.”

Have I linked to Stacy McCain’s piece in The American Spectator, today, yet?

If not, here it is: ‘Sources Say’ is definitely worth a read.

Indeed, it is politics, where long-ago complaints by former employees can be dredged up and turned into a scandal reported hourly by the cable news networks. And it is politics, where few reporters took notice when Karol Markowicz, who worked closely with Cain on his 2004 Senate campaign in Georgia, strongly defended him in a series of Twitter messages Sunday evening. “I don’t believe…that Cain behaved inappropriately.… He never even bordered on inappropriate in the slightest,” she wrote, adding that she “just can’t believe there’s anything to the charges.” Markowicz called into Mark Levin’s nationally syndicated radio show Monday evening to reiterate her defense of Cain, but other than by me and the Weekly Standard‘s Michael Warren, this obviously relevant testimonial was ignored by the press. Meanwhile, on MSNBC — which showed no interest at all in Markowicz or anyone else vouching for Cain’s good character — Chris Matthews offered one of the Politico reporters “congratulations on breaking this story.”

Hat tip: Charles B.