[Whitfield:] Well, we're waiting to hear from one of two women who accused Herman Cain of sexual harassment. She could release a statement today. The Republican presidential candidate says he never sexually harassed anyone. CNN's Jim Acosta is with us now from Washington. So, where Cain will be speaking, at the Defending the American Dream Conference where will he be? Well, that's where you are, actually next hour. Give us an idea of exactly what he is expected to say.
[Jim Acosta, Cnn Correspondent:] Well, he's going to be giving a speech here to a big Tea Party organizer, Americans for Prosperity, has been one of the leading groups organizing the Tea Party movement. And it is known because it has been partially funded by the Koch brothers. So we are expecting some Occupy Wall Street-type protesters out here at this conference. But getting back to the event at hand, this is going to be really a chance for the Republicans to look at their two leading contenders right now, Herman Cain, who has obviously had a bad week. He's been really clamping down on his public appearances, only doing conservative media in the last day or so ever since those allegations broke that he sexually harassed some women at the National Restaurant Association in the late 1990s. Cain, as you said, Fredricka, says he did nothing wrong. In his speech in about two hours from now, he's expected to talk about his 9-9-9 economic plan, which obviously he hasn't been spending a whole lot of time talking about lately, and national security. He's going to lay out some national security principles. That's according to his campaign. We're also going to be hearing from Mitt Romney. He talks in about 45 minutes from now. So it's going to be interesting to hear from Mitt Romney as well. But Cain, as I said, has been doing conservative media. He was on the Sean Hannity talk radio show yesterday, and he was asked about these allegations and whether or not it would derail his campaign. And Cain said no, there will be nothing there if these alleged accusers ever come forward. He says that his campaign is moving right along.
[Cain:] But I can assure you this, Sean this will not deter me. This businessman is not going to be deterred in his drive to basically do what I feel like I'm supposed to be doing, which is to win this nomination and win the presidency.
[Acosta:] Now, obviously, Mitt Romney has something to say about that. He's going to be here giving his speech. We have a sneak preview of his spending cut plan. This is something that the Romney campaign is really putting out there today. He's talking about $500 billion in spending cuts for the budget year of 2014. So it's a little ways off, but he is talking about something pretty dramatic that may go over well with this Tea Party crowd, Fredricka, talking about sending Medicaid back to the states, talking about really changing Medicare the way the program is run right now, giving seniors vouchers to buy into the Medicare program, cutting funding for Amtrak, cutting spending for foreign aid, and of course eliminating the president's health care law. So this is going to be a very sort of bold and in-your-face speech from Mitt Romney today on the economy, on spending cuts. And I think he's probably also looking to get some of the limelight away from Herman Cain and get it back on to what he would like to talk about, which is the economy and the president's handling of the economy.
[Whitfield:] All right.
[Acosta:] But as you were saying at the very start of this, Fredricka, this has been a tough week for Herman Cain. So obviously all of us are going to be watching Herman Cain to see what, if anything, he has to say about this week, about these allegations, at this speech today. He probably won't say anything, but we'll be watching.
[Whitfield:] OK. Jim Acosta, thanks so much in Washington, at the Defending the American Dream Conference. And of course we'll all be listening to see what Herman Cain has to say. So, all week long, as Jim just underscored, he has been in the hot seat. With us right now from New York, CNN Senior Political Analyst David Gergen. So, David, while Herman Cain has been in the hot seat, you wouldn't know it if you look at the latest polling, if you would look at his fund-raising efforts. He is surging in both. How is this happening?
[David Gergen, Cnn Sr. Political Analyst:] Well, it sometimes happens, that there's a rally-around effect, especially among close supporters. I mean, he has a hard core of supporters who really like him. He is an inspirational figure, he's a motivational speaker. He's clearly motivated a lot of people.
[Whitfield:] I guess the fascination though with that question is, despite the fact that there are these rumors, and despite the fact that there are these allegations, he seems to be going along swimmingly with this kind of Teflon kind of approach.
[Gergen:] I don't agree with that. I actually don't think that is the larger picture. I think these polls are they are following polls. They're not early indicators. As time goes on, what we know from other stories like this and we've seen a ton of them this year, haven't we? is that they have a corrosive effect on a candidate. And over time, their numbers start coming down. The shine goes off. They can't get their message out. I think if we have a woman who comes forward and puts a name and a face on the allegations, and people have a chance to hear her, and if she has and if she in fact has a story and it may not be much here, but if she has a story of someone who was overly aggressive, we're going to be off to the races with three or more days of news stories comparing her to him, he saidshe said. And the main thing he needs to do is to end this story, not to have it continue, because the longer it goes on, the more corrosive it is.
[Whitfield:] And how does he do that? Is it up to him to put an end to it, or does it all rest on this statement that may come today?
[Gergen:] Well, I was really struck by the fact that even though the polls are holding out, Richard Land, who is a major evangelical figure, a Southern Baptist who has been the kind of person that Herman Cain depends on, said he must get this story behind him. He ought to call for full transparency, and that means he ought to ask the National Restaurant Association to release this woman from a confidentiality agreement. Let all the facts get them all out there. Let everybody look at it. Yes, there may be a couple of embarrassing things, but if there's nothing serious, then his campaign goes on. As it is, he's in this drip, drip, drip process. And yes, it hasn't shown up in the polls. Yes, he's still getting more money. But I guarantee you, over time, if this story continues for much longer, it will be very corrosive for his campaign. Everything in politics tells veterans that's what happens over time.
[Whitfield:] So Cain, you believe, is still in the driver's seat. It is up to him to kind of put this to rest. It's gone on for a very long time, in large part, in your view, because he hasn't addressed it head-on?
[Gergen:] I think that Herman Cain looks to me like a very fine fellow who probably is a little he's a motivational speaker, he puts his arms around people, calls a woman "sweetheart" at the first meeting. He just comes out of that tradition. And I'm not sure he did very much that was wrong. I don't know that. But what is clear is he's been terrible hand-fisted in dealing with it. I mean, his campaign has made a hash out of the defense. They've let this go on now. We're in the fifth day. This should have ended two or three days ago, and it's likely to go through the weekend now if a woman comes forward. So this is not what a campaign wants to do. You want to cut these things off, boom, as quickly as you can, get all the facts. And the fact is, they had 10 days to be ready for this and they weren't ready.
[Whitfield:] Yes. So if anyone stands to gain from this kind of impasse of lack of information, or kind of these holes in this in these allegations, would it be a Mitt Romney?
[Gergen:] Well, it could give life to Rick Perry to become the alternative to Romney. Right now, Herman Cain has gotten up in the polls. It looks like he's the alternative. If he falls, Rick Perry may be able to put his campaign back together. He had a good interview yesterday with John King. He was more impressive in that than he was in the debates. But if Perry does not catch fire, then there is no question that Perry and Cain have cleared the field for Romney, and that maybe somebody else will catch fire, like Gingrich. But you'd have to say that the solid front-runner in that situation would be Mitt Romney, and we'll have to wait to see what he says today. But, you know, he's been relatively in the background, but I think that's been smart by Romney, to be a little in the background. You know, he doesn't want to be out there every day between now and Election Day, a year from now.
[Whitfield:] David Gergen, thanks so much. Always enjoy your viewpoint.
[Gergen:] Thank you.
[Whitfield:] All right. Are you paying for income taxes than some of the country's biggest corporations? A new study says you may be because some companies aren't paying any at all.