captioned by closed captioning services, inc i'm bret baier in washington. this is a fox news alert. you're looking live, we're awaiting a news conference by republican presidential candidate herman cain from scottsdale, arizona. cain is expected to address the latest allegation against him. new allegations of unwanted sexual advances in the 1990s. leveled monday by sharon bialek. the allegations and others from anonymous women have had to be addressed by the candidate. a candidate who has been surging in the polls. let's go first to chief political correspondent carl cameron live in des moines, iowa, and has been following the story from there today. good afternoon, carl. >> reporter: hi, bret. we have had numerous conversation with the cain campaign preparing for the news conference. mr. cain decided to do this

when sharon bialek went public yesterday. he made it clear last week he did not intend to respond to allegation of last week's accusers but the new one compelled him to come forward. he signaled today, mr. cain did, he will continue an attack on her credibility. questioning her motives and he will continue to defend himself and deny this. >> i can categorically say, i have never acted inappropriately with anyone. period. and as far as the latest charges, i don't even remember, i reject all of those charges. >> reporter: since miss bialek went public with her attorney gloria allred at the friar's club yesterday, she continued a blitz of media interviews, continuing to tell her story. this morning she all but predicted that later today when cain holds his news conference he will continue his denials, not as she asked

him to do, "come clean." >> i think he is going to still deny it. unfortunately. my hope of all hopes is he won't. i think he is being misguided by his people right now. they are giving him bad advice. >> reporter: the advice is fight back. cain campaign today released a lengthy statement details the question about miss bialek credibility. she has gone through two bankruptcies and number of occasion sued for breach of contract and failure to pay her debt that. they suggest creates questions whether she has a financial motive. she says she has not been offered money for her story but in an interview today on fox news she didn't rule out considering it in the future. >> bret: another accuser has been identified today. what can you tell us about that? >> reporter: this goes back to last week's three accusers one of the women with a settlement with the national restaurant association and in

exchange for silence was given some degree of termination package or settlement agreement money. she has been identified by her brother-in-law. her name is karen cerbaur and her brother-in-law identified her in the daily, an online publication of ipad by the parent company of this network. miss kreshauer according to her attorney has no intention to speak publicly herself. the attorney did not deny that she was auz client. a woman that had a settlement in 1997 with a national restaurant association but has not come forward. cain and his campaign made it clear they will not be addressing her allegations or any of the allegation of the other alleged two accusers from last week. this is specifically tonight supposed to be focused only on sharon bialek. >> bret: we have been given the two minute warning. sometimes they're soft as we look live in scottsdale, arizona. as we wait, bring in the

panel. steve hayes, juan williams and charles krauthammer. steve, what does he have to do here and what do you think he will do? >> it has to be as direct and forth right as he possibly can challenging the allegations head on. he has had now a series of women who anonymously or by name come out and shared what they say are their negative experiences with herman cain. to give his side of the story. it's a tough challenge for him. >> bret: juan, we have not seen the polls as of yet reflect any major slide here. his campaign continues to point to increasing fundraising for the candidate. what about this? is there a possibility he turns this thing around at this point? >> turn it around, as you point out he is not losing votes. he is gaining in terms of fund raising. >> bret: i'm going to interrupt you right there. this is the introduction of the candidate. take a listen. >> i'm lynn wood one of the lawyers for herman cain.

i have been practicing law in georgia for over 34 years. and i have had the opportunity in my practice of law to represent female victims of sexual harassment. serious, legitimate claims of sexual harassment are not settled for nuisance value. i have also had the opportunity in my law practice to represent victims of sexual assault. when they have come to my law office, i did not take them out and parade them in front of the cameras in a national press conference and then arrange for them to go on a campaign with the media to give one interview after another after another.

they resolved their claims in a court of law. i have also had the privilege to represent a number of innocent victims accused by the media of serious crimes. false accusations. where those individuals found themselves on trial in the court of public opinion. on trial in the court of public opinion where there are no rules. the rules are made up by the media. there are no procedures designed to safeguard the integrity of the process. to ensure that a fair and a just result is achieved.

herman cain finds himself over the course of the last several days now on trial in the court of public opinion. falsely accused. first by anonymous sources. and now yesterday by sharon bialek who chose to come forward for whatever reason after 14 years when recollections have faded. witnesses cannot be located. to for the first time, for the first time in 14 years to tell her story to a third person for the first time.

and now herman cain in the court of public opinion has to respond not to admissible evidence. he has to respond to hearsay. he has to respond to rumors and speculation. he is not afforded the opportunity from me to cross examine his accusers. he is not afforded the safeguards that are part of our system of justice. but he comes before you today to defend his reputation. a reputation he has built over 40 years of bag good and decent man and a successful business person.

i ask that you at least afford him fairness. and that you view his efforts to defend his reputation and his good name by maintaining your common sense. and remembering your own life's experience to decide whether or not a story that is so inherently improbable on its face, should be utilized by others with their own agendas to attack this man's reputation. it's my privilege to represent him and my privilege to step aside from this podium and let you hear from him. herman cain. >> thank you, lin. good afternoon.

i am herman cain and i am running for president of the united states of america. i normally don't have notes. but in this case i wanted to make sure that i didn't miss any points that i needed to cover today. secondly, i chose to address these accusations directly. rather than do it through a series of continuous statements or spokes people, because that is the person herman cain is. is to take my message directly to the people. with respect to the most recent accusations, i have never acted inappropriately

with anyone, period. i saw miss allred and her client yesterday in the news conference for the very first time. as i sat in my hotel room with a couple of staff members, as they got to the microphone my first response in my mind and reaction was i don't even know who this woman is. secondly, i didn't recognize the name at all. the time that she referenced was during the time that i was the ceo and president of the national restaurant association. it's headquartered in washington, d.c., where about 150 workers work. and we have about 150 people in chicago.

where she said she works for our educational foundation. i tried to remember if i recognized her, and i didn't. i tried to remember if i remembered that name, and i didn't. the charges and the allegations i absolutely reject. they simply didn't happen. they simply did not happen. for decades, the american people have wanted a businessman in the white house, not just another politician. because for decades, all the politicians have been doing is kicking the can down the road, trim a little bit here, trim a little bit there.

when america's biggest problems simply got worse. a businessman by the name of herman cain stepped forward. here i am. i know from the american people that i have talked with and i have spoken with over the past several months we are not going to allow washington or politics to deny me the opportunity to represent this great nation. and as far as the accusations causing me to back off and maybe withdrawal from this presidential primary race ain't going to happen. because i am doing it for the american people and the children and the grandchildren. i will not be deterred by false, anonymous, incorrect

accusations. america believes that washington is broken. america believes that our system of getting elected is broken. in part it is. but in another part it's not. as long as we have decency and honesty, in the electoral process, it will work. but when we allow deceit and false accusations to rule the day and distract us, that part is broken. nine days ago, the media started to beat me up covering anonymous accusers. yesterday, another accuser came forth. identified herself. went on tv and made some other allegations.

was it tough last week? yes. has it been tough the last couple of days? yes. that's one thing about herman cain a lot of the american people know. gist because it's tough is no reason for me not to do what i feel like i have to do. because of what the american people have said to me during these turbulent times, we will get through this. we will get through this. the fact is these anonymous allegations are false and now the democrat machine in america has brought forth a troubled woman to make false accusations. statements. many of which exceed common sense. they certainly exceed the standards of decency in america. i have been married for 43 years. to my wife gloria.

43 years i've been married to my wife. after watching that press conference yesterday, i called her and i said, "sweetheart, did you see it?" he said yes. i said, "what did you think?" my wife said and this is a direct quote. "i have known you for 46 year years," because we were engaged for two years. "that doesn't even sound like anything you would ever do to anyone." sexual harassment accusations are serious. and respect for women and all people that i have worked with or people that worked for me over the years have been a top priority with respect to me. now my family fully supports my candidacy. and they know the man that i

am. they have been with me all of their lives, my kids. they know who i am. they know the man that i am. however, i ask that the media not drag my family into this. they are not running for president. some members of your professional have even stalked my family members. calling members of my family and extended family members. i ask you as professionals to direct your questions, your criticisms toward me. not my family. my reputation is something i worked over 40 years to build up. i managed many entities, many companies. i've managed organizations with thousands and thousands and thousands of employees.

now that i am running for the highest office in the land, after accusation, some anonymous, some not so anonymous, but now coming to light. this is not a surprise. it was expected. i will vigorously defend my reputation. because i will not allow false accusations to compromise or in any way shed badly on my character and my integrity. this is why i decided to address the issues directly and forth rightly. i will repeat. i have never acted inappropriately. with anyone. period. and these accusations that were revealed yesterday are

simply did not happen. we are going to take some questions. j.d. gordon, my communications vice president. we will take a few questions. >> when you ask your question, please state your name and media agency, please. >> please use the microphone. >> cain, steve fuderman with cbs news. it'd like to ask you a two-part question. first of all, do you think it is appropriate for a candidat candidate's character to come under a microscope in a campaign? and secondly, are basically now in a he said, he said situation. she is saying something, you are saying something. they are both diametrically opposing each other. as distasteful as it might be, would you be willing to do a lie detector test to prove your honesty in this. >> yes. go ahead. yes, i absolutely would. but i'm not going to do that unless i have a good reason to

do that. that was one of the first comments i made to my staff. i have also shared it with my attorney. of course i would be willing to do a lie detector test. i believe the character of a candidate running for president should come under a microscope, with facts. not accusations. >> tim, reuters news agency. a reuters poll released this afternoon showed 40% of the republican voters see you less favorably after seeing monday's accusations from sharon bialek. given that reaction, how can you convince the nonsupporters to vote for you? >> well, first, you don't need 100% of the voters. you need 51%. it is natural that some voters would be turned off by the mere mention of the accusations. that is normal and expected.

all you have to do is look at campaigns historically and you are able to identify those places where members of the electorate are going to be influenced by the court of public opinion in formulating that impression. the good news for me and my campaign is that most of my supporters have not reacted to this in terms of belief. many of them have expressed their outpouring support for the fact that these incidents simply did not happen. so rebuilding the trust on the part of some people yes, that would be a challenge. but i want to continue to represent those that have chosen to be support me and those that are willing to look at the facts. and not hearsay. >> hi, mr. cain. robin from the "l.a. times."

yesterday, you called the charges insignificant. i think everyone who ever worked in a restaurant environment knows that sexual harassment can be very commonplace. my question to you is do you believe sexual harassment is real? have you ever seen it? what did you see? and how did you deal with it? >> let me reiterate that sexual harassment is a very serious charge. in no way have i tried to minimize specs wall harassment in the workplace. having led many organizations, yes. i have seen instances where it could be interpreted as sexual harassment and if i saw it, and if it were an employee or a direct report of mine, i dealt with it ale gently before the other person proceeded as an infringement of their privacy.

it's not just men sexually harass women. i have seen situations where women have attempted to sexually harass men. it's very serious. i made sure it wasn't tolerated in my organization i was responsible for. >> jonathan carl with abc news. mr. cain, now another woman, one of the formerly anonymous woman has come forward working with you at the sought association, karen kraushaar, now with the treasury department come forward. what do you say of her accusations, someone who is still working in the u.s. government. are her allegations not true? is she lying about them? >> well to the best of that recollection, since you remember that particular name, that is the one that i recall filed a complaint but it was

found to be baseless. let's separate something. the accusations were made of sexual harassment. they were found baseless. there was no legal settlement. there was an agreement between that lady and the national restaurant association. it was treated as a personnel matter because there was no basis to her accusations. those are the facts. >> is she making it up, the story? or misinterpreting. >> when she made her accusations, they were found to be baseless. and she could not find anyone to corroborate her story. the restaurant association handled it. they went through a process to get to the point where it ended up being an agreement, not a settlement. let me clarify that little

point. i have been criticized by some members of the media that i changed my story. when the firestorm started a week ago monday i was presented with the accusation that some settlement was made. settlement to me means there were legal implications. later during that same day, i then recalled after all these years that there was an agreement. that is what businesses sign with employees who are departing the company. they call it an agreement. settlement implies legal implications. all of the potentially legal implications, ramifications or accusations were found to be baseless. >> "wall street journal," still, mr. cain there are now a total of four women who have accused you of some form of sexual harassment. how do you explain that? are they making it up? is that possible? can you explain where you

think this is coming from? thank you. >> well, i happen to think where it's coming from that some people don't want to see herman cain get the republican nomination. and some people don't want herman cain to become president of the united states of america. as you know, when you run for the highest office in the lan land, there are going to be some accusations that are going to come out of the woodwork. they will come from anywhere. i said this before. there will probably be others. not because i am aware of any. but because the machines that keep a businessman out of the white house is going to be relentless. if they continue to come, i will continue to respond. i can't answer why. the ones that have already made these one anonymous accusations and one that was, you know, put their face on tv, started a media campaign,

to basically try and slander my integrity and my character, i can't tell you what their motivation other than to stop herman cain. i believe the american people are saying they are not going to let that happen. >> steve craft, fox10 news in phoenix. mitt romney has been quoted as saying he finds the accusations to be disturbing. can you react to that observation by mr. romney and tell us what you think is behind it? >> sure. sexual harassment is a very serious matter, as i've said. i find the accusations distur disturbing. but false. i don't believe governor romney was saying he thought i was guilty of any of the accusations. but yes, they're disturbing. because they distract me and my team from taking our message to the american people. talking about solutions. they distract from the whole

republican primary process. so he is right. but i don't think he was saying that i was disturbing because i have been accused. i believe what he was saying because i know mitt romney and his integrity, that he was referring to the fact that it's disturbing that these accusations that are not factually based are disturbing to the process. >> lee rossman, fox news. you made several mentions of the machine, democratic machine. who are the people? who is involved in this? is it a conspiracy? >> i cannot say that it is a conspiracy. we do not have definitive factual proof. we can only look at some coincidences to suggest that maybe someone is deliberately behind this. we have not been able to make any determination to point any fingers or place any blame on

anybody at this point. when we step back, and look at the fact that there is no factual evidence to back these up, we can only infer that someone is trying to basically regular my character and like other gentleman alluded to plant doubt in minds of a lot of people who will go to the polls and vote. >> mr. cain. andrew rafferty, nbc news. i'm curious, what role do you think sharon bialek past financial troubles play in her allegations against you? >> she claims that her past financial situation, the number of civil lawsuit she is has been involved in, she claims that it does not play a role in her coming forward. i can't respond any further than that. that is her claim.

from a common sense standpoint one would have to ask if it might not have been a motivation for her being subjected to this. >> hi, mr. cain. tracy, with cnn. he in terms of the other case that was found base lest and that accuser who found it to be baseless? and if so, why was she paid tens of thousands of dollars? >> i am not sure of the tens of thousands of dollars figure you are referring to i am not going to get caught in that trap. negotiations between -- i am only referred to the one lady that actually filed charges. that is the only one i can respond to. she got an attorney. and she and her attorney negotiated and talked with the attorney for the national restaurant association. i can't even remember if we got outside counsel in the case. i think we probably did. it was a situation they worked back and forth. they came to the conclusion that it should end with some

sort of personnel separation agreement. [ inaudible ] >> she worked at the restaurant association for a period of time. i do recall before i left the restaurant association she was in the process of leaving the association. i didn't have regular interaction although periodically i would see her. and since she reported to my vice president, one of my vice president's when we would have a planning meeting she would attend the planning meeting. typically when i would do a planning meeting, i would not only bring in my direct reports, i'd bring in the next level down. she was at that next level down. so that was the interaction in terms of me seeing her on a regular basis. during that particular period of time, because i was the president of the facial restaurant association, today it has over 14 million people. working in the industry.

you know, thousands and thousands and thousands of restaurants. i spent most of my time traveling and giving speeches around the country to state restaurant associations, as well as other speeches i needed to give. i was not in the office a lot. i was out in the field more than i was in the office. >> mr. cain, lindsay boreman with cbs news and national journal. you said again today it has been so many years and you later recalled there was a financial agreement you didn't originally remember. now you say you don't remember sharon bialek, yesterday was the first day you have seen her. is it a possibility it's been too many years and you could recall specific details later? >> that is a possibility but remote point. i'm not an expert on how the brain works. /know i sat there and went over and over in my mind do i know this lady? the answer kept coming up no. i watched her again today when she appear on fox news with her attorney doing this interview, sitting there

trying to remember do i know her? i didn't recognize the face. i didn't recognize the name. nor the voice. so is that a possibility? yes. a remote possibility. here is why. one of the things that people who work with me for years tell you i'm good at remembering people. especially people that have had a positive impact in my life or a positive impact on my business. i'm pretty good to remember people i have met. who have made some sort of impression on me. in this case, i doubt i'll have an ah-ha moment later and say oh, yeah, i remember that. i just don't think it will happen. >> mark placesy with the "new york times." karen kraushaar just spoke to our newspaper in the last hour. can you tell us what she accused you of specifically and what your intersections with her were?

you came close to answering that but stopped. this is your press conference where you are going to level with us and tell us what happened. so tell us what she accused you of and tell us what really happened. this is your chance. thank you. >> well, i can only recall one thing that i was aware of that was called sexual harassment. the one thing that i remember that i remembered during the day when all of this broke loose, is that one day in my office at the national restaurant association, i was standing next to miss kraushaar and i gestureed standing near her like this. you are the same height as my wife, because my wife comes up to my chin. that was the one gesture that i remember. the door was open. my secretary was sitting there. it wasn't anything behind closed doors.

i gestureed because of her height, comparing it to my wife's height. end of story. other things that might have been in the accusations, i'm not even aware of. i don't remember. that one i remember because that was the one that my general counsel came to me and said the one that appears to be the one that she was most upset about was that. so i really can't tell you any more, because i don't recall anymore. that is the only one i remember. >> did she react. >> she did not react at the time. absolutely did not react at the time. let me say this, folks, in closing. thank you for your patience. thank you for us having an opportunity to say my perspective on this. this nation faces tremendous crisis. i would hope that we could get back to sharing with the american people solutions to the problem tas we face. we are not going to allow

ourselves to continuously be distracted by these sort of incidents. i will respond to them. but we cannot slow this campaign down. when we need to be dealing with our economic crisis. our spending crisis. our energy crisis. our foreign policy crisis. illegal immigration crisis. and a crisis of leadership in the white house in washington, d.c. that is what i am going to continue to focus on. on behalf of the american people. not for me, but for the grand kids. thank you all very much for your attendance. [ applause ] >> bret: herman cain speaking to reporters in scottsdale, arizona, spoke for more than 30 minutes. he said he chose to address the allegations directly. repeating three times the line, "i have never acted inappropriately with anyone period." now cain claimed he did not especially recognize sharon

bialek at her press conference monday. he said she did not recognize her name either. there are people who talked today on the record about seeing cain and bialek talking at a tea party event a month ago. cain insists that the charges and accusations "simply didn't happen." cain said he won't drop out of the race. he will continue to run and run hard. he was introduced by lynnwood, well-known attorney from georgia who actually represented richard jewel, the security guard falsely accused of the olympic park bombing and also represented john and patsy ramsey, parent of the murdered child. asked about karen kraushaar one of women who settled a sexual harassment claim. she is speaking publicly tonight. cain said her case was found to be baseless. he said he would like to take a lie detector test. he said there will probably be others, meaning allegations, but there is nothing to them.

he said rebuilding trust with voters will be a challenge but he will keep trying. we will have more on this story and all of the top stories of the day at the top of the hour on "special report." we'll also have breaking news and election update throughout the night tonight. it is election day 2011. we'll have a complete election special tonight at 11:00 p.m. eastern time. join us then. at the top of the hour. right now we return to new york and my colleagues with "the five." ♪ ♪ >> kimberly: thank you. i'm kimberly guilfoyle with andrea tantaros, bob beckel, eric bolling, greg gutfeld. this is "the five." you just saw herman cain addressing the sexual abuse allegations. so does it end the controversy or just raise more questions? andrea, flat out accusations against him. he said he denies all of them. they're false. he hired famed attorney lynnwood, which tells you something. he is taking this very seriously. he seemed to be very strong across the board in terms of presentation and rebutting this. >> glenn: i call this an

extremely fierce counterpunch. something he should have done a while ago but nevertheless, this is the move he needed to make. he answered a lot of questions and stayed with us for a long time. i think he hit back really hard. he kept repeating these are baseless allegations. he stayed true to himself, this is the herman cain brand. coming to the people. the ending was one of the best part. we have big may chure issues in this country, let's get back to them. job well done. a-plus. >> kimberly: in terms of the money, he raised $2 million since last monday. he is still holding his own in the polls. a little bit slowing but a little slipping in the polls but for the most part he remains formidable. >> eric: i think he did himself a service doing this. he spoke for 27 minutes. he took questions, i think that was very important for him to take questions. he could have simply, you know, said his peace and walked off the stage. he has a high profile attorney. i agree with andrea, a-plus. this is going to end up

helping him going forward. i was concerned, look this is a systemic picking apart by the democrats of the conservative candidates. first the palin. then bachmann, then perry. then it was cain. i think what he has done, he has turned it around a little bit. whatever number he raised, i'm not sure he did but whatever the number it will increase going forward. >> bob: for you to suggest for a minute that the democrats are the ones behind the taking apart of conservatives is just outrageous. the fact of the matter is i was -- i have defended herman cain for the last week. i do not now after he makes allegation about the democratic organization that is behind this. herman, it's not us. it's republicans doing it to you. >> eric: please, it was palin and then -- >> bob: bull. >> eric: there were 23,000 document dumps, they'd find something. >> bob: who did that? who did that? >> eric: then rick perry, sleepy at the debate, drunk at a speech. >> bob: who did that? >> eric: now herman cain. >> bob: are you suggesting

that's democrats? >> eric: unequivocally -- >> bob: do you have proof >> eric: i dent have the proof. >> bob: of course you do. >> eric: this is taking the eye off the real issue. the economy stinks, jobs are horrible, and you know what? [ overtalk ] obama. not -- >> bob: let me say this as calmly as i can to you. making allegations like the with no evidence and nothing to back it up. >> eric: i didn't point a finger to any person. >> bob: cain did a good job. we have impressions now, and it's starting to hurt him in the polls. the idea that somehow he would infer and you would suggest that this has something to do with the democrats is outrageous. >> andrea: i agree with bob specifically to come out and name the democratic party, naming rick perry without proof is not a wise move. however, the way that the main stream left-leaning media has gone off with the same kind of -- they threw in the same thing, baseless accusations,

that they have nothing to back up. he has been shadow boxing from day one. now you have a woman who if you look at her rap sheet, 14 years later she all of a sudden cares about the country? double bankruptcy. illegitimate trial. you know what it says to me? two words. scam artist. >> kimberly: there are some people saying she is represented by gloria allred who represented a number of people with lawsuits against individuals like charlie sheen or tiger woods accuser. across the board. >> andrea: when did she represent the people? when did she represent meg whitman? in a political company. popping up with an opportunity to bring a republican down. >> kimberly: she also did in the anthony weiner case, she also was in on that case as well. but nevertheless, i guess there is criticism saying that the people are coming forward now. is there a motive behind it? before they were anonymous sources like and degreia said -- andrea said, he was shadow boxing.

but now they didn't file this with an employment agency. hearsay and speculation. he wasn't given the benefit of being able to cross examine them at the time and place when this occurred which was years ago. instead he is trying to defend himself and character now and some of the women didn't come forward to make a complaint. greg? >> greg: yeah. anyway, here is the thing that bothered greg gutfeld. all right? sneaking in the third -- speaking in the third person, greg gutfeld hates that. by the third time that herman cain was talking about herman cain greg gutfeld was going he's beginning to annoy greg gutfeld. so that bothered me. also, i'm really impressed why all successful lawyers talk really slow and are southern. i felt like it was a john grisham movie. i thought he did a great job. overall, the press conference was pretty good. he might have painted himself in a corner. with the lie detector thing. also when he said there will be others. how does he know that? >> eric: he also did say -- sorry. he also did say i have never

acted inappropriately ever period twice. repeated it. >> greg: i can't even say that. for today! >> kimberly: you can't say it for the last ten minutes. >> greg: the thing i've done on the press conference. >> bob: i think if you listen to what he said about the lie detector test, he said i will on the facts. i do think he said there will be others coming here. but again, if you think about who has the motive here, if there is people behind this it's clearly people running against him. if we the democrats were going to take somebody out, we would go after mitt romney. believe me. we would not go after herman cain. we would love to run against herman cain. >> eric: they haven't gotten there yet. there is plenty of time to go after romney. >> bob: i love you, brother. before you get any further down the road can you explain to me who "they" are? >> eric: obviously there is a system in place. right? >> bob: no. >> eric: sarah palin,

michele bachmann, rick perry, herman cain. literally, whoever leads the polls is the one that is taken down. >> bob: who are "they"? >> eric: you asking me to name a name. i'm not going to do this. >> greg: let's not go down this again. i think -- one thing that herman cain could have done better is provide the press with pizza. if you feed the press, if you feed the press you can confess to homicide and get away with it. if you add mozzarella sticks you could be a serial killer. >> bob: have you had godfather's pizza? g it's not bad. you're wearing purple suspenders so i don't trust you. i am also tired of the phrase "where there is smoke, there is fire." that is not true. you have seen dry ice. >> kimberly: okay. and are you in some weird '80s context -- >> greg: it look like smoke but it's not. it's dry ice. let's retire that. >> kimberly: let's do that. immediately. back and forth here obviously between bob and eric about the

source of this. is it something that is planted? we know everybody else is doing campaign. you hire opposition research and you do research on yourself to find out what in fact anybody else can find on you. this clearly, even there are articles written about it. political people obviously got the information. from somebody. from a campaign. something like that. >> andrea: journalists have a duty to hint at where they got the information. again, if politico dug it up on their own they would have pat themselves on the back and put a huge -- gold star. politico exclusive. otherwise, they should hint where they got it. i talked to a number of journalists about this. but they haven't done that. but again, i don't think those details are going to be unknown to us for that long. i think if the women are being enticed to come out, it's likely going to come out. we'll learn. >> bob: this is not evidence here to say -- there is enough evidence to say there this is not dry ice. in a period of two weeks, you have four women coming

forward. that smacks of somebody encouraging them to do it after all these years. it is -- having run a presidential campaign and been the recipient of all kind of nasty stuff on my opponents i can tell you that it very rarely bears itself out. in this case, just so i can clarify this one more time there is no doubt in my mind that politico and others got this from other republicans. not from democrats. >> eric: you said the exact same thing i said on the other side. >> greg: here we go again. >> eric: how about this. how about this. let me be conspiratorial now. >> greg: for a change. >> eric: politico gets it from the democratic party or someone on the left. and they say don't name your source. make it look like it came from a campaign. and all of a sudden we get dig down to the minutia of this instead of concentrating on what really matters, jobs, economy, unemployment, people aren't working. things aren't working. we waste all of this time worrying whether herman cain went like this to a girl 12 years ago or not.

>> kimberly: or stuck someone with the bill for the wine. >> greg: that was offensive. for somebody who does come up to that height, for him to do that. >> bob: eric has his grassy knoll theory of the assassination. i know you will work on it. 40 years now but you will be there at some point. >> eric: no, but there are conspiracys and there are also -- >> bob: for the purpose of the family, can you clarify this -- >> andrea: let's move it forward. let's move this forward. does this help or hurt herman cain going forward? bob? >> bob: of course it hurts him. >> andrea: you don't think he can overcome this? >> bob: perhaps he can. but i think there is an effort here when he says there are other people coming he knows they're coming. >> kimberly: he raised money, which is good. >> bob: $2 million. that's nothing. >> kimberly: nevertheless it's significant when you compare it to what he was raising before. the criticism is he wasn't

able to get donors and raise money and he didn't have organization on the ground. he needs cash to hire people. they have made new hires. trying to address the allegations and focus on his campaign. he is not backing down from it. he is saying these are false. in terms of being able to bring it to a court of law. he wasn't afforded that opportunity. >> eric: i don't know if you were going this way but i think this is going to end up helping him. i have been no fan of herman cain in the last days. for me, my presidential candidate to have sexual harassment past. but now the people are coming out of the woodwork with very small accusations. paying for the wine. whatever does it really matter? it's not really what happens more along the lines of how did he react to it? he has reacted very well. >> greg: i have something to add to this. i was also sexually harassed by herman cain, but not this herman cain. it was a pharmacist from cleveland. he was an animal. i thought i'd get that out there. >> bob: thank you. >> kimberly: covered by our

insurance. >> bob: as usual, greg, you elevated this conversation. >> greg: somebody has to. >> bob: i think eric put his finger on it. the question really for republicans do they want to have somebody represent them in a general election that fairly or unfairly these allegations are hanging over and will not go away? if you get to the point where i do believe republicans are that they will do whatever it takes to beat barack obama, they really want him, do they want to take what is essentially an allegationly flawed campaign against him? >> andrea: democrats were willing to take bill clinton. one of the greatest presidents. >> bob: that was re-election campaign. >> andrea: there were facts there. >> bob: are you talk about palla jones? >> andrea: a number of them. still hailed as one of the greatest president. i think it depends on what happens after this. he has handled it very well. kim what about the campaign season, andrea? that there is a cloud over him

and that could be problematic. so far, romney is squeaky clean. >> eric: he will have his day. >> bob: by the way -- he gave romney a little pass there. he said oh, sure, romney was just -- who are we kidding? romney tried to draw attention to it. >> andrea: it depends what happens on the way to iowa. >> bob: tease. >> kimberly: more on herman cain's press conference up next when we come right back. stay with "the five." ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] our nation's veterans are real-life heroes.

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then i tried salonpas. it's powerl relief that works at the site of pain and lasts up to 12 hours. salonpas. republican rivals hand this? what is their response? >> andrea: i don't think they say anything. i don't think they touch it with a ten foot pole. get back to their own messages and let cain deal with this. same with the democrats. they are not going to touch this one. >> kimberly: can he get the nomination after this? >> andrea: it remains to be seen. his numbers are still decent in iowa. there is a pathway for him. again, it just depends on will more women come out? will the details come out? are there going to be more accusations? people said they didn't think he could get the nomination, does it make him viable for v.p.? or is it going to knock him

out completely? >> kimberly: or does he tarnish the ticket? >> andrea: who does the support go to if he does lose? maybe newt gingrich. if you are so offended by the allegations do you go to newt gingrich or a squeaky clean conservative like rick santorum. >> greg: it's hard to go to newt from cain talking about personal character issues. >> andrea: it could be split. >> greg: it raises questions more about his organization, which i thought was refreshing he wasn't a politician. but the way it's been going, it makes you wonder. >> greg: that is the most serious thing you said. >> greg: i'm out of jokes. >> eric: the rest of them -- the one i would like to hear from is michele bachmann to be honest and rick perry because there were accusations. i think they all did okay, let's move on. if they are smart they'll say let's get back to what matters. what is the economy doing? that is what will put g.o.p. right, a conservative and/or republican in office in 2012,

addressing the economy and addressing the -- >> kimberly: trying to do that. trying to address jobs and economy and the 9-9-9 plan. again, we said he raised $2 million in the last week. it's not significant in a serious presidential campaign but in the entire reporting period from june to september, $2.8 million. he almost matched -- >> bob: keep in mind when you are in a crisis like this, your base comes to you. it helps you financially. that is -- i'm not surprised he raised that money. just remember he did. eric referenceed it. he did at one point accuse the perry campaign of doing this. then he walked it back the next day. he has been somewhat inconsistent on this. i think the person who benefits from any of these things the person with momentum, that is newt gingrich right now. i think in the end that herman cain will not get the nomination because he is tainted fairly or unfairly. by the way, i'll stop disciplining myself. i came close to swearing again. thanks for swear box.

that is my money. >> kimberly: don't you have a five or a tin? making the point. greg, go around real quick to say give him a grade. >> greg: i say i thought it was strong. really strong performance. very forceful. i give him an "a." vy a feeling this isn't over. >> kimberly: yeah, he said it's not over. you'll probably have more people coming forward. >> andrea: the question is do we believe the women who have these complicated back stories and legal trouble of their own? that will play out. i said it before, i think he gets an "a" for this. i would have done it earlier. but this was handled very well. he is not messing around as you referenced. he brought in the big guns. that is a serious attorney. he is doing it right. he should move on now. >> kimberly: if they keep talking lynnwood will sue them. >> andrea: turn the page now and get back to 9-9-9. >> eric: i would absolutely give him an a-plus and also point out that lynnwood is much better at his side than mark block, the smoking guy.

remember what happened with that? really, really messed that up. had he gotten lynnwood to start with, maybe we wouldn't be sitting here and wondering if cain was viable candidate. he is still at the top of the polls. >> eric: you can't deny it. >> eric: one thing about lin wood if you bring in high-powered attorney it does raise questions why you need a high-powered attorney. >> greg: but the other side you had gloria allred and if she was native american her name would be fingernails on a chalkboard. >> kimberly: do you spell that phenetically? >> bob: what planet did she come from? until he made the allegations about the democrats i would have given him an "a." i give him a "b." i don't think it's over. in the end, he cannot get the republican nomination. >> kimberly: there we go. we have a bob prediction soon. give him an "a." that's it for us on "the five." keep it here on fox news. we'll see you tomorrow.