Cain: Leaving W.H. race 'is an option'

ATLANTA, Dec. 1 (UPI) -- Former front-runner Herman Cain said Thursday leaving the race for the Republican U.S. presidential nomination "is an option."

In an interview with the New Hampshire Union Leader, the former Godfather's Pizza chief executive said he would assess his campaign this weekend and have a decision by next week on whether he will drop out of the race, following allegations by Ginger White that she and Cain maintained a 13-year extramarital affair.

"Yes, it is an option," he said.

The interview came as The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported cellphone records indicated there were 70 text messages between Cain's and White's cellphones from Oct. 22 to Nov. 18. Cain's attorney, Lin Wood, said Wednesday he thinks the messages were mostly requests by White for money, the Journal-Constitution reported.

Cain, who has denied having a sexual relationship with White, told the New Hampshire newspaper White was asking him in the text messages for "financial assistance because she was out of work, had trouble paying her bills and I had known her as a friend."

"I'm a soft-hearted person when it comes to that stuff," he said, while declining -- on the advice of his attorney -- to say how much money he gave her.

He told the Union Leader his wife of more than 40 years, Gloria, did not know about his friendship with White, or that he had given White money, until White "came out with this story." Cain said he believes "someone offered (White) a lot of money" to allege the two had a sexual affair but he said he can't prove that.

He said he believes "a network of people," including Republicans and Democrats, are trying to destroy his campaign.

In an interview Thursday on MSNBC, White said no one had offered her money to come forward.

"Absolutely not," she said. "No one has offered me anything. That is false."

Wood told the Journal-Constitution he has requested White's phone records to "test her credibility and motive."

White, 46, produced months of phone records Tuesday when she disclosed her alleged relationship with Cain in an interview on WAGA-TV, Atlanta.

Sharon Bialek, one of the women who have come forward with sexual allegations against Cain, received eviction papers Tuesday from her townhouse in Glenview, Ill., the Chicago Tribune reported.

Bialek allegedly owes $7,500 in back rent. Cain has denied allegations that he groped Bialek about 14 years ago.