Arkansas Ties In The Herman Cain Harassment Story

If you haven’t heard by now (which is unlikely if you are reading this blog,) Republican Presidential candidate Herman Cain is most certainly the frontrunner as the kitchen sink of oppo research is getting tossed in his direction.  The biggest piece today is a story from Jonathan Martin of Politico who reports on a sexual harassment lawsuit (or lawsuits) in the 1990’s against Herman Cain when he was with the National Restaurant Association.  Cain insists the charges are completely false.

Take your pick for hundreds of websites with more information on this story, but here is a couple of interesting Arkansas ties for my state readers.

For starters, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee defended Cain this morning and attacked Politico reporters on the Laura Ingram show.

"I would almost guarantee that (the story came from another Republican Presidential campaign)," said Huckabee. "Because quite frankly knowing some of the reporters involved, they’re not that good and people who are in campaigns — typically when they have got enough money to do it — they will hire investigators, opposition researchers, they will dig through everything. We had people that went to my kids’ schools when they were in elementary school posing as federal inspectors for the FAA. Bizarre stuff. People go through your trash. I know you hear stuff and think it is not true. I have lived it and I can promise you, it is true."

Bizarre indeed. I asked Martin about Huckabee’s remarks and he said, "I wish the governor and his family all the best."

There is also a Hot Springs Village resident who is suddenly in the middle of the Cain story.  Mary Ose moved to Hot Springs Village after retiring from the National Restaurant Association’s human resource department.  According to Martin, her interviews with him contradict claims Cain made today that an internal investigation cleared him of any wrongdoing.  Ose previously stated that she was unfamilar with any compliants.

It will be interesting to watch this story play out.  Either Politico is sitting on more information that they will slowly release to contradict Cain’s statements, or if the charges turn out to be much ado about nothing, they could end up backfiring on whatever oppo team put this out and actually help Cain.  The next couple of days will be critical.