Well, Who didn't See this Coming?

This was only a matter of time:

During Herman Cain’s tenure as the head of the National Restaurant Association in the 1990s, at least two female employees complained to colleagues and senior association officials about inappropriate behavior by Cain, ultimately leaving their jobs at the trade group, multiple sources confirm to POLITICO.

The women complained of sexually suggestive behavior by Cain that made them angry and uncomfortable, the sources said, and they signed agreements with the restaurant group that gave them financial payouts to leave the association. The agreements also included language that bars the women from talking about their departures.

Make no mistake about this one: this wasn't a news outlet doing due diligence, this was an opposition research leak. Politico says they've been working on the story for 10 days now, which is right around the time Cain cemented himself in the top tier of a number of polls. The awesome question now is who dropped the dime?

Was it Perry, who has the resources to fund a top-notch oppo research team and who wants to steal from Evangelical Iowans that may have converted to Cain following the Texas governor's disappointing roll out? Was it Romney, who seems just a little too blase about his Iowa campaign? Was Gingrich jealous that Cain's book tour was doing better than his own? Was it Ron Paul, whose campaign came out with a suspiciously rapid press release vowing to take the high road on the matter? Was it Colonel Mustard in the library with the candle stick?

My money's on Team Perry precisely for the reasons stated above.

Anyway, we here at The Chief started to suspect Cain may have a few skeleton's in his closet when noticed a couple of weeks ago that we've never seen his wife or children out on the campaign trail. If you're running for President, you're family has to be on board, front and center (the Huntsman girls know the drill). Keeping your wife on the sidelines is bad form, just ask Judith Dean. We weren't quite sure if that meant that Cain kept women on the side or just believed his wife's place was in the kitchen or, most likely, that his campaign was such an amateur operation that they simply didn't know how to incorporate her into the program. When we read this article in the Times that essentially accused him of being a dick to subordinates, well, we probably should have put two and two together.

This is not something that will go away quietly. It's way too reminiscent of the Clearance Thomas confirmation hearings -- a black conservative and accusations of sexual harassment -- and who wouldn't want to rehash that shit show?