Book: Huntsman campaign peddled Herman Cain rumors to press

It was former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman’s struggling presidential campaign that fed the rumors to the press that Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain had been accused of harassment by multiple women during his business career — a story that ultimately led to Cain’s departure from the contest — a new book reveals.

Cain, the former CEO of Godfather’s Pizza, vehemently denied the claims at the time and shamed Politico, the outlet which eventually wrote about the anonymous accusations, for reporting the story.

But a big mystery since then: who fed Politico the story? Authors John Heilemann and Mark Halperin write in “Double Down: Game Change 2012″ that a campaign that no one really expected was behind the oppo on Cain.

“After getting a tip from a donor, Huntsman’s researchers had dug into Cain’s past, discovered the first two sexual harassment claims, and fed the story to Politico,” the book recounts, according to an excerpt in U.S. News and World Report. “As they waited for Politico to turn their tip into a story, members of Huntsman’s circle asked each other when the ‘high heel’ was going to drop on Cain.”

An aide to Cain told The Daily Caller on Monday that the businessman and radio host has yet to read Heilemann and Halperin’s account, which hits bookshelves Tuesday.

The revelation that Huntsman’s campaign was behind the rumors is ironic, considering how the former U.S. Ambassador to China lamented during the episode that the Cain allegations were keeping Republicans from talking about real issues during the campaign.

“Every time another accusation comes up, it diminishes our ability to stay focused on the issues that really do matter for the American people,” Huntsman said in November 2011. “And I think that’s a disservice to the voters.”

Jonathan Martin, the chief Politico reporter on the Cain story who would know the source, did not reference the revelation in his review last week when he broke several juicy nuggets inside the new book for the New York Times.

Via: Daily Caller

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Hey, let’s elect a new Speaker from outside the House

Ed’s headline in the Greenroom for this piece (written by the co-author of “The Republicans Are the Problem”) tells you all you need to know about what an unserious bit of trolling it is, but I’m oddly comforted to see it show up on WaPo’s op-ed page. It’s proof positive that even the most celebrated newspapers aren’t immune from having to scrounge for content in the news desert between Christmas and New Year’s. Coming tomorrow, presumably: “Let’s repeal term limits for Obama.”

Still, it’s worth writing about for two reasons. One: Conservative dissatisfaction with Boehner is real. We may well end up with a new Speaker on January 3. No harm in thinking about alternatives. Two: It’s a useful prism through which to consider the leadership void in the GOP right now.

What if Boehner doesn’t survive? Go to Article I, Section 2: The Constitution does not say that the speaker of the House has to be a member of the House. In fact, the House can choose anybody a majority wants to fill the post. Every speaker has been a representative from the majority party. But these days, the old pattern clearly is not working…

The best way out of this mess would be to find someone from outside the House to transcend the differences and alter the dysfunctional dynamic we are all enduring. Ideally, that individual would transcend politics and party — but after David Petraeus’s stumble, we don’t have many such candidates. It would have to be a partisan Republican.

One option would be Jon Huntsman. By any reasonable standard, he is a conservative Republican: As governor of Utah, he supported smaller government, lower taxes and balanced budgets, and he opted consistently for market-based solutions. As a presidential candidate, he supported positions that were in the wheelhouse of Ronald Reagan. But a Speaker Huntsman would look beyond party and provide a different kind of leadership. He would drive a hard bargain with the president but would aim for a broad majority from the center out, not from the right fringe in. He could not force legislation onto the floor, but he would have immense moral suasion.

Another option would be Mitch Daniels, the longtime governor of Indiana and a favorite on the right. Daniels has shown a remarkable ability to work with Democrats and Republicans, and he is a genuine fiscal conservative — meaning he does not worship at the shrine of tax cuts if they deepen deficits, and he would look for the kind of balanced approach to the fiscal problem put forward by Simpson-Bowles, ­Rivlin-Domenici and the Gang of Six.

Via: Hot Air
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