Cain Unable, Part 8

And the first call for Herman Cain to quit the race coming from a sitting Republican is in: Alaska's Sen. Lisa Murkowski.

Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski told CNN on Tuesday she is "concerned" that the most recent charge of sexual harassment against Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain "is not an isolated incident" and that he should quit the race if there is any truth to the claims.


"I'm learning about this at the same time as any of the rest of you. But I would suggest that if, in fact, there is substance to the claims - and now there are apparently four individuals that have been involved or who have come forward - if that's the case, I think that his opportunity as a nominee are gone," the senator said.

Nearly all of the Republican senators contacted by CNN sidestepped questions about the scandal that has rocked Cain's campaign, saying they want to learn first if there is real evidence to support the mostly anonymous charges.

However, Murkowski made clear she was moved by the public account of Sharon Bialek, a single mother from Chicago who held a news conference on Monday to say Cain wanted sex in return for helping her to find a job.

And so it begins.   Steve M. thinks Herman will be with us well into 2012.  I personally think Cain will get stomped in Iowa and New Hampshire and fold before St. Patrick's Day anyway, so it's a moot point. We'll see how far this goes, but given Cain's ego and the fact his only job is to sell books right now, he'll stick around for as long as he can.

Meanwhile, a second Cain accuser's identity has been revealed.

Thanks to a decision by The Daily — News Corp’s iPad-only newspaper — to out her this morning, a communications director at the Treasury Dept. has become the second woman to have her name put to accusations that Herman Cain is a serial sexual harasser.

Whether she likes it or not — and it seems clear that she doesn’t — Karen Kraushaar’s name will now be part of the story of Cain’s history of being accused of inappropriate behavior at work. Kraushaar, 55, confirmed to NPR Tuesday she was one of the women who complained about Cain’s actions at the National Restaurant Association in the 1990s and settled the claims with the NRA.

It's entirely possible this mess could reach critical mass, but given that the only people whose opinion on Cain actually counts right now are GOP primary voters in early primary states (and they love the guy) we'll see what happens.

Magic 8-ball says it's Newt's turn on top of the Clown Car anyway.