Former pizza magnate Herman Cain dropped out of the US presidential race on Saturday after accusations of sexual misconduct overwhelmed his bid to win the Republican nomination as an anti-Washington tax reformer.
Cain’s departure set off a competition among other candidates to win over his conservative supporters with voting to start next month in the race to determine the Republicans’ presidential pick for 2012 to oppose President Barack Obama.
Cain, a former Godfather’s Pizza chief executive, told followers in his hometown of Atlanta that”false and unproved” sexual accusations had forced him to suspend his White House bid.
He said he would endorse another candidate, effectively ending a roller-coaster campaign thatsaw the African-American businessman go from complete outsider to the rising star ofRepublican conservatives within a few weeks over the autumn.

Cain held a Friday night meeting with his wife, Gloria, who has stayed mostly silent as severalwomen accused her husband of sexual harassment and an Atlanta businesswoman thisweek said she had carried out a 13-year affair with him.
Gloria Cain appeared at his side on Saturday and smiled throughout.
Cain’s departure shapes the wide-open Republican race more clearly into a matchup betweenformer Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and surging rival Newt Gingrich, former speaker ofthe US House of Representatives.
Reuters/Ipsos poll data released this week showed Gingrich and Romney would benefit most ifCain quit.
Support for Romney and Gingrich would rise by 3 percentage points each, against the 1- or 2-point bumps Cain’s departure would give some of their rivals for the nomination. Gingrich, a fellow Georgian, said he would meet with Cain next week.
“I don’t anticipate anything,” CNN reported Gingrich as saying. Cain has to “make up his ownmind,” Gingrich said.
Romney said in New Hampshire he sought backing from Cain supporters. “I hope as theyevaluate the various candidates, they conclude that I’m the leader they need,” he said.
Suspending his campaign instead of quitting altogether lets Cain continue raising money that hecould use to pay off any debt he had run up.
Cloud of doubt
Cain, 65, said a “cloud of doubt” had settled over his campaign. He insisted that accusations hesexually harassed several women and had an affair with Atlanta businesswoman Ginger Whitewere simply not true.
“I am suspending my campaign because of the continued distraction, the continued hurt,” Cainsaid at an event that had been planned as the grand opening of his campaign headquarters inAtlanta.
Cain won attention for his 9-9-9 plan to reduce the US tax code to 9 percent on income, salesand corporate taxes.
After jumping into the front-runner position two months ago, Cain had been in a free fall in thepast month. His support in Iowa, which holds the first US nominating contest on Jan 3, stands at8 percent. Cain spoke of having made mistakes but did not elaborate. His campaign also suffered fromseveral stumbles that included a long pause when he tried to answer a routine question aboutLibya.
“I’ve made mistakes professionally, personally, as a candidate, in terms of how I run mycampaign. And I take responsibility for the mistakes that I’ve made. And I’ve been the very first toown up to any mistakes I’ve made,” Cain said.
Supporter Kristen Keating, 35 of Decatur, Georgia, wept after Cain’s announcement.
“I believe in his plan and his vision for leadership and his solutions for very serious issues thatare way beyond his own private life,” she said. “His plan was so clear. I understand it. “
She has not decided what candidate to support for president now.

Source: www.chinadaily.com.cn