Washington, Nov 11 : Mitt Romney chugged ahead toward the Republican presidential nomination Thursday as his two main conservative rivals scrambled to control serious damage.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry tried to recover from a disastrous moment in Wednesday's Republican debate in which he could not remember the third of three agencies he had pledged to abolish. Perry, once the front-runner, has been trying to rebound from a precipitous drop in the polls.
Meanwhile, businessman Herman Cain spent his 11th day trying to get beyond sexual harassment accusations leveled against him by four women, two of whom received cash settlements from a trade association Cain once headed.
Cain and Perry's difficulties leave few options for conservatives seeking an alternative to Romney as the Republican challenger to President Barack Obama. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich could emerge as their newest hope, but he lacks a strong campaign organization and will have to prove that his long and sometimes troubled political history can withstand closer scrutiny.
With the Iowa caucuses, the first party nominating contest, set for Jan. 3, Romney is looking strong, but he's hardly home free. Many conservatives still resent his past support of legalized abortion and gay rights. They criticize the health insurance program he pushed through while governor or Massachusetts that served as a model for Obama's national health care overhaul. Some conservative Christians are reluctant to vote for a Mormon like Romney.
But conservatives have failed to coalesce around a single alternative. Congresswoman Michele Bachmann briefly topped the polls, followed by Perry and then Cain. It's unclear whether Cain can hold his position.Perry on Thursday rearranged his schedule to try to mitigate his disastrous debate moment, in which he could not remember the third federal agency he has vowed to abolish. He canceled a Tennessee fundraiser to appear on several TV networks and the David Letterman show, pledging to stay in the race.
He repeatedly said he "stepped in it" at the Wednesday night debate but declared in an interview, "This ain't a day for quitting nothing." Cain, the former pizza company executive, faced voters for the first time since the sex harassment allegations emerged, meeting with conservative, anti-tax tea party groups in Michigan. He hoped the friendly settings would preserve the lofty perch he enjoyed in Republican polls two weeks ago.
"How you beat Obama? Beat him with a Cain!" he told one supporter at a crowded diner. The crowd cheered. Cain is airing his first TV ad in Iowa, and he has hired a new lawyer who is warning women they will be scrutinized for any charges made against the candidate.
Late Thursday word came that attempts to organize a joint news conference with the four women alleging Cain harassed them had fallen apart. Joel Bennett, the attorney for Karen Kraushaar, said his client had decided not to hold the news conference "unless and until the other women come forward and wish to participate."
Romney, the former Massachusetts governor who recently filmed a TV ad in Iowa, blasted President Barack Obama's Iran policy in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece Thursday.
Some Iowa Republicans hope former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, who emphasizes social conservative issues such as abortion and gay rights, can make a move. He has visited all 99 Iowa counties and aired radio commercials. Other party insiders feel the person best poised to rise is Gingrich, the fiery Georgian who led the Republican Party's 1994 takeover of the House of Representatives after 40 years in the minority. He eventually lost his leadership post and left the House after clashing with President Bill Clinton over taxes and an unpopular government shutdown.
