Former
pizza magnate Herman Cain has dropped out of the presidential race
after accusations of sexual misconduct overwhelmed his bid to win the
Republican nomination as an anti-Washington tax reformer. Cain’s
departure set off a competition among other candidates to win over his
conservative supporters with voting to start next month in the race to
determine the Republicans’ presidential pick for 2012 to oppose
President Barack Obama. Cain, a former Godfather’s Pizza chief
executive, told followers in his hometown of Atlanta that “false and
unproved” sexual accusations had forced him to suspend his White House
bid. He said he would endorse another candidate, effectively ending a
roller-coaster campaign that saw Cain go from complete outsider to the
rising star of Republican conservatives within a few weeks over the
autumn. Cain held a Friday night meeting with his wife, Gloria, who has
stayed mostly silent as several women accused her husband of sexual
harassment and an Atlanta businesswoman said she had carried out a
13-year affair with him.
