Herman Cain (This photo, taken by Gage Skidmore, was obtained under Creative Commons license).

According to an exclusive POLITICO report, the women complained of "sexually suggestive behavior by Cain that made them angry and uncomfortable."

They would later accept large payouts to leave the association and vowed to keep quiet, POLITICO's sources confirmed.

See the full story here.

After nearly ten days of declining to comment on the issue, Cain's political spokesman J.D. Gordon decried the POLITICO report in an email to the Washington Post.

“Fearing the message of Herman Cain who is shaking up the political landscape in Washington, Inside the Beltway media have begun to launch unsubstantiated personal attacks on Cain,” Gordon wrote. “Dredging up thinly sourced allegations stemming from Mr. Cain’s tenure as the Chief Executive Officer at the National Restaurant Association in the 1990s, political trade press are now casting aspersions on his character and spreading rumors that never stood up to the facts.”

Shockingly, it seems that Cain himself saw this coming.

Speaking at the Georgia Republican Party convention on May 14, Cain predicted that he'd be "high-tech lynched" by a blog like POLITICO trying to take him down.

"They're going to come after me more viciously than they would a white candidate," Cain said, according to the Washington Examiner.  "You're right.  Clarence Thomas.  And so, to use Clarence Thomas as an example, I'm ready for the same high-tech lynching that he went through -- for the good of this country." 

Cain smiled broadly. "I'm ready for the same high-tech lynching."

The allegations add to the litany of attacks experienced by Cain's campaign since he surged to the top of the polls last month. He has faced continued scrutiny over his "9-9-9" tax plan, as well his stance on abortion and lack of foreign policy experience.

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