GOP debate in Michigan – live coverage
Yes, tonight’s debate is the first since Cain’s insurgent campaign raced to the top of the opinion polls and then ran into a brick wall of serial sexual misconduct allegations, as first revealed by Politico newspaper and subsequently confirmed by two women.
Cain has tried ignoring, ridiculing and avoiding the charges, offering a twisting set of responses that merely made matters worse.burberry outlet cheap Finally, on Tuesday, Cain held a press conference to tackle the subject – but ended up satisfying no-one with his blank denials and memory loss.
Will the allegations against Cain come up tonight? In some ways Cain is on friendly territory, on stage with seven other Republican contenders. But it seems hard to imagine that the subject won’t be raised, especially as even Romney – who is neck and neck with Cain in the polls – has called the allegations “serious” and “disturbing”.
It may be that one of the lesser candidates – Michele Bachmann? Santorum? Jon Huntsman? – will seize the chance to raise the issue, if they can do so in way that doesn’t alienate the approximately 60% of Republicans who have told pollsters they don’t believe the allegations.
Santorum, a social conservative with subterranean poll ratings, has a particular incentive to throw bombs at Cain and maybe get some airtime from a national media that has long ago written him off.
There are three other themes to look for:
? The inevitable Mitt Romney
Romney remains atop the polls – but many Republicans remain unconvinced that he should be their party’s standard bearer because of his dodgy past of repeatedly backflipping on his political positions.
But so far, Romney has seemed Teflon-coated: nothing sticks. And the attention on Herman Cain’s troubles has once again taken the heat off him. Will that change tonight? And will Rick Perry continue his assault on Romney, as he did in the last debate two weeks ago?
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