candidate called her as recently as september. the station says they sent a text message to the number she identified as belonging to mr. cain. believe it or not, the candidate then called back from that number, acknowledging he knew ms. white but said he was only trying to help her financially. earlier in the day, mr. cain tried to get out in front of ms. white's accusations. he was on the air with wolf blitzer on cnn just minutes before the atlanta station played the interview with his accuser. >> tell us about the nature of your relationship with this woman. >> friend and trying to help a friend because not having a job, this sort of thing. that's all there is to the relationship. and here again, i don't know what's going to be claimed in the story. there was someone who was supposed to be a friend, but obviously, they didn't see it as a friendship. >> when you say friend -- i mean, i'm asking awkward questions, but i'll ask you the questions you're going to be asked. was this an affair? >> no, it was not.