know who is an acquaintance that i thought was friend of. >> television station ag.a identifies the accuser as ginger white. she claim her affair with cain lasted 13 years. >> it was complicated. i was aware that he was married and i was aware that i was involved in a very inappropriate situation, a relationship. >> again, cain denies having an affair. in an exclusive interview with wolf blitzer, cain says the latest accusation won't force him out of the race. >> you're staying in the race. you're not dropping out. >> i'm not dropping out, no. as long as my wife is behind me and as long as my wife believes that i should stay in this race, i'm staying in this race. because i am sick and tired of the hurt and harm that somebody out there is doing to my family, more so to me work these baseless charges. what this says is that somebody is awfully afraid that i'm doing too well in this republican nomination to continue to dig up these stories to try and put a cloud and a damper on my campaign. >> let's discuss the impact on the cane candidacy. kordell is with us also. he is working for the obama reelection campaign. and chief political analyst gloria borger. i want our viewers to hear a bit more. some extended sound from mr. cain's interview a short time ago with our colleague, wolf blitzer. >> they just that, you know, they mentioned the name of the individual. >> and you know this woman. >> i do know who she is. and they mentioned what the accusation would be. until the story comes out, i'm not at liberty to respond to something at this point. when the story breaks, through my attorney, lynn wood of atlantic, georgia, we will respond. we chased all these other rumors for two weeks before and as it turned out, they were baseless. why? they were not able to come up with any documentation, any proof or anything that was credible. and so we will address these when they come out. but at this point, i just wanted to give you heads up. i don't have anything to hide. and we will address everyone of the details as we know them. >> tell us about the nature of your relationship with this woman. >> friend and trying to help a friend because not having a job, et cetera, and this sort of thing. that's all there is to the relationship. and here again, i don't know what will be claimed in the story. it was someone who was supposed to be a friend. but oxley, they did not see it as a friendship when you say friend, was it -- i'm asking. these are awkward questions but i'll ask you the questions you'll be asked. was this an affair? >> no. >> there was no sex. >> no. >> none. >> no. >> if this woman says there is, she's lying? >> well, wolf, let's see what the story will be. i don't want to get into being pinned down on some things until we see what the story will be. >> but they basically gave you the outlines. the atlantic television. >> they gave my attorney the outline. so i'm now speaking secondhand in terms of what i know about the story. when we can the story, we will respond. >> mary matlin, he said it's not true. he said he needs to know more specifically about what the woman is alleging. as someone who knows the rough and tumble, how damaging is this to herman cain's candidacy which was already struggling? >> wellering didn't just say it wasn't true. he said it with emotion. although he was calm. he was very clear. he is definitive, demonstrative, he was calm. i don't know of any campaign that has ever survived such a moment like this and turned out to be bare-faced lying. we all what the one example is but that's the only one. and i don't think it can be repeated. mostly because of how you started the question. his campaign is already struggling. newt gingrich, and you're in a very good place to evaluate how this will play out. it certainly is distracting. but fits a completely unfair assault, then who knows how people will respond in a fair-mined electorate. >> to that point, i'm in south carolina which votes third. 54 days from now. this is a state that herman cain had hoped to do well in. if you talk to activists, they say he was struggling a bit. we've talked in recent weeks about the struggles of the campaign on some of the issues in the debates. on some of the sexual harassment debates. can a campaign that needs to be near perfect, because he is an outsider, he doesn't have the infrastructure, survive something like this? >> i'm not sure whether it can. listening to his conversation with wolf, unlike the last time where they came out and made their defense without knowing all the facts, the problem is that his lawyer has released the statement. i just got a copy of it a few minutes ago and it says this is not an accusation of an assault. this is a private alleged consensual conduct. this is outside the public's right to know. basically, turning what the public views as republican philosophy for the last 10, 15 years with bill clinton saying this was a private relationship. we won't comment. and the public doesn't really have a right to know. now if there is nothing there, i think they want to come out and be very forceful with it as herman was without this lawyer's statement that well, this is a private matter. >> erick was reading from that statement and i'll read a bit more. she said in that statement, no individual whether a private is it, should be questioned about his or her private sexual life. the attorney put out that statement. then you heard herman cain saying once he knew more, he would answer the questions. so that the candidate trying to respond on live television. i get difficulty of that. but saying something that essentially contradicts a least what his attorney wants him to do. >> what cain issued to wolf was a blanket denial. what his attorney issued was a statement which essentially said whatever this is, should not be relevant to the companion because it's not a charge of harassment or assault. and he made the case that it is not something we ought to be talking about. i would argue that the voters ought to decide what's relevant to their votes and the iowa caucuses or the south carolina primary. but what you've got, and that was the most interesting they know to me. was the different statements from herald cain denial versus his attorney which isch essentially skirted the issue of whether this was true or false by saying, there is not an allegation here that herman cain broke the law by sexually harassing somebody who once worked for him. >> so kordell, you're the democrat of the group so i'm not expecting you to defend herman cain. what goes through your mine? >> you cannot run for the office of presidency and be naive. this is not a game. we have people who are trained professionally to tear your life apart. the glare and the spotlight of running for presidency will burn your house down. and right now, herman cain's house is on fire. >> herman cain, house on fire. >> to that point, this has been a campaign that has reacted in different ways to the accusations. harangly criticizing some of the accusers. this was the week he was hoping to get much more back to the economics as we get closer and closer, inside six weeks to the votes. do they have a group together, a coherent group together to deal with this? >> i don't think so given what we saw today and the way he handled the charges today and the way he, his attorney handled them. which was completely different. look, i think the herman cain campaign has been on a downward trajectory. i think not largely because of the sexual harassment charges. it is because of the way he did not answer the question on barack obama's libya policy. it is because republicans have decided may be they don't like 9-9-9 because of the national sales tax maybe some people believe he equivocated on the question of abortion. so i think that there are lots of other issues that play into this. i think the question of this will come down to who is telling the truth here. we don't know a lot about this woman at this point. we know that herman cain is unequivocally denied it. and at some point people will have to try and figure out whether he is telling the truth or she is telling the truth. and they may consider that to be relevant to their votes. >> john, this is a relevant point -- >> i'll ask everybody to stand by. go ahead. >> this relevant point is that they want a well-oiled team. and lynn wood, we know as he great lawyer but that doesn't mean he is a good political communicator. he is saying, his nondenial in our world is perceived as a confession. that doesn't mean it's true. it just means he is bad at politics. >> that's true. >> an interesting point. the difference between a legal advice and political advice often can make a huge difference. much more in the explosive new allegations against herman cain. and we're a few minutes away from a conversation with the speaker of the house, newt gingrich. our machines help ideny early stages of cancer, and it's something that we're extremely proud of. you see someone who is saved because of this technology, you know that the things that you do in your life matter. if i did have an opportunity to meet a cancer survivor, i'm sure i could take something positive away from that. 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[ male announcer ] it has an hd webcam, killer audio, and lids that switch to start every semester fresh. but mostly it helps me try new moves on and off the court. ♪ [ male announcer ] powered by the 2nd gen intel core i5 processor: not just smart, visibly smart. nobody does cyber monday like dell.com. visit dell.com through monday for instant savings on some of our most popular products. herman cain revealing to cnn, a woman is coming forward accusing hill of having an extended extra-marital affair with her. ginger white is bases woman who claim her affair with cain lasted for 13 years. cain denies this affair but for now is not going into specifics and says he won't drop out of the presidential race. let me bring you through some of the stalts. this from cain's attorney. he wrote, quote, this is not an accusation of harassment in the workplace. this is not an accusation of assault which are subject matters of legitimate inquiry. this appears to be an accusation of private alleged conduct between adults. a subject not subject to inquiry. no individual should be questioned about his or her private sexual life. that statement from lin wood, a short time ago, mr. kacain's attorney. he said that he has talked about it with his wife gloria. >> my wife's reaction was very similar to mine. here we go again. and when i told her what little information that i knew about it, her response was the same as mine. and that was, here we go again. we will basically show when the details become available that i didn't do anything wrong. >> again, the woman's name making the accusation is ginger white. here's what she told station waga. >> he made it very intriguing. it was fun. it was something that took me away from my sort of him drum life at the time. and it was exciting. >> cnn contributor erick erickson, cornell, mary matalin and chief political analyst gloria borger still with us. you know herman cain. he said, she said. but he said she said at a very critical time of this campaign. >> it is. you know, listening to this, it makes wonder why anyone would ever want to run for office, the stuff that comes out. make sure your ducks are in a row. and largely, i think a lot of people. not herman himself. he really got into this thinking he could make a difference. that he could win. i think a lot of the people surrounded with herman, they never really thought that he could be president but they could probably get something out of it. and so the campaign team wasn't really in it to win it. and gloria's point earlier, this is coming at a time when he is going down in the polls, not because of these other accusations. if anything they make him more sim that a athleticic to peel who feel like he's attacked. they inoculate newt gingrich to a lot of the attack that the there they go again attitude. he was already going down and now it will be difficult to get back on message to try to rebound. i'm not sure in the next five, six weeks, he'll be able to rebound enough. >> so mary, what do you do tonight and tomorrow if you're dealing with this? >> well, people have done campaigns, we're talking about this. we want to beat obama. we're willing to take a not perfect conservative for a good campaign. this is demonstrative of a not very good campaign. either the lawyer wasn't vetted or he is not a good communicator or herald cain does his own thing. not relative to the actual charges. the handling will be relative. just get up tomorrow and do what he is going to do. quit talking about it but get back on message somehow. it is not an easy task he set up for himself. >> so herman cain to his credit is out doing interviews today knowing this was coming. if he's injure candidate, do you say go to the bunker or do you have him on live television saying something that ends up being a direct contradiction. >> why is he in these odd places doing interviews as opposed to being in south carolina and iowa and new hampshire if he is running a real campaign. look, in the end, it is, there is too much smoke for their not to be fire. in the en, for better or worse, us guys, women are the majority of the electorate here. whether you're a conservative woman or a liberal woman, you're at all this. if you want to give him the benefit of the doubt. at some point there's way too much smoke and in the en, women pick who our presidents will be. not us men. and i think this is too damaging for him with women voters. whether you're a conservative or a liberal voter. >> to that point already, if you look at the polls among republicans, he wasn't doing very well with women. this kind of allegation on top of the allegations of sexual harassment is certainly not going to help him at the very least. and it is a campaign, as you point out, that is already headed in the wrong direct. and republicans want someone who can beat barack obama. if they have to keep every day waking up to new stories about herman cain, no matter how sympathetic they may be to herman cain personally, no matter how much they may like him. at a certain point they're going to say, you know what? we don't want to be surprised in the general election with more stories about a candidate. we need somebody that we think can win. >> can i just say that mitt romney is the luckiest man on the planet? all of these guys just keep imploding. and romney just holds steady like 22 to 25%. the two luckiest men in the world going into a general. obama who can get a republican, who cannot get a republican to beat him. man, they're lucky. they need to play lottery numbers. [ laughter ] >> he sounded quite defiant in his conversation with wolf. that he is staying in this race until he said his wife tells him i've had enough. do you expect mr. cain to still be actively campaigning? he obviously can't take his name off the ballot. do you expect him to stay in and try to fight this out? >> there is no reason to get out now. it is not clear that iowa or new hampshire will be dispositive. i think south carolina will be more telltale. we're in a completely different calendar this time. but i've never seen a campaign that could behave this poorly. just setting aside the issue relative to what we know is coming at us, as cornell keeps saying. fire, fire, one down our ice, there is smoke, fire, carpet bombing. we want a good campaign. we need to see a campaign that can respond to this separate from whatever the charges and the surprise is. we're not seeing it now. >> so mary, if you were advising him, what should he do tomorrow? >> say he -- >> get out? >> no. he shouldn't get out. for his family's sake if nothing else, he should the one saying i'm putting out statements. either one voice, the lawyer or tim. there's one message, whoever is delivering it. and there is immediate pivot to 9-9-9 or us beck stan or whatever it is. dope go after the women or think about the motivations. although anybody who says 13 years is fair is an uncomplicated and simple thing makes me question her as a woman. but he should stay out of all this. he has a tendency to answer questions he doesn't need to. a lesson he needs to learn. i thought he already did learn, actually. >> appreciate your time. when we come back, we're live in south carolina because the republican candidate who is at the moment surging in the race, newt gingrich is here making an appeal to the tea party activists. it's like having portable navigation. a bluetooth connection. a stolen vehicle locator. roadside assistance. and something that could help save your life - automatic help in a crash. it's the technology of five devices in one hard-working mirror. because life happens while you drive. this holiday, give someone you love an onstar fmv mirror for only 199. visit onstar.com for retailers. ♪ you want to save money on car insurance? no problem. you want to save money on rv insurance? no problem. you want to save money on motorcycle insurance? no problem. you want to find a place to park all these things? fuggedaboud it. this is new york. hey little guy, wake up! aw, come off it mate! geico. saving people money on more than just car insurance. or creates another laptop bag, or hires another employee, it's not just good for business. it's good for the entire community. at bank of america, we know the impact that local businesses have on communities. that's why we extended $13.2 billion to small businesses across the country so far this year. because the more we help them, the more we help make opportunity possible. newt gingrich is here in south carolina looking to bolster his standing in the state that brags it tends to settle republican presidential nominating contests. a heady time for the former house speaker. he skyrockets to the top of national poeg. this weekend he picked up the covet endorsement of the new hampshire union leader. the state's leading conservative editorial voice. it is clear he's trying to leverage the buzz in south carolina. tougher citizen civil of the former massachusetts governor mitt romney and a clear effort to consolidate the anyone but romney vote. listen. >> i think i'm the one candidate who can bring together a national security conservatives and economic conservatives and social conservatives in order to make sure we have a conservative nominee. >> now here at the college of charleston, the former house speaker will make his case at a town hall organized by congressman tim scott. a local tea party favorite who has emerged as a l