Liz Halloran

Herman Cain's decision to reassess the status of his Republican presidential campaign in the wake of allegations he engaged in a long-term extramarital affair raises questions beyond will-he-or-won't-he drop out.

One of the big ones?

Which candidate in the still-crowded GOP field would benefit most if Cain ends his White House quest?

We put that question to Republicans in the early contest states of Iowa, which will hold its caucuses Jan. 3, and New Hampshire, where the nation's first primary will be held Jan. 10. What we heard wasn't all that surprising.

An Atlanta woman claimed Monday that she has had long-term affair with Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain and has the records to prove it, an accusation that delivers another blow to the former corporate CEO's campaign.

Cain vehemently denied the allegation during an interview on CNN before the woman's story aired on an Atlanta television station.

He described her as a "friend," but said their relationship was not sexual. "I have nothing to hide," he told CNN.

Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank says he decided not to seek re-election to a 17th term in 2012 because congressional redistricting would have given him a slew of new constituents and a difficult, expensive campaign.

"I think I would have won," Frank, 71, said during a Monday press conference in Massachusetts announcing his retirement. "But it would have been a tough campaign."

Added Frank, who has led financial reform efforts on Capitol Hill: "I don't like raising money."

A new poll that gauges Americans' views of the Mormon faith served up difficult news for the nation's highest profile member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints: GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

Karen Kraushaar, who received a 1999 settlement in a workplace sexual harassment complaint against Herman Cain, has decided not to hold a joint press conference with three other women who have also alleged past harassment by the GOP presidential candidate, her attorney said Thursday afternoon.

Only Sharon Bialek, who held a press conference this week to allege that Cain made an inappropriate sexual advance when she met with him to seek help finding a job, had agreed to participate.

She is being represented by well-known lawyer, Gloria Allred.

A woman who accused GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain of sexual harassment when he headed the National Restaurant Association in the late 1990s alleged Friday that the incidents were "a series of inappropriate behaviors and unwanted advances from the CEO."

In a brief statement released by her lawyer, the woman, who continued to maintain her anonymity, responded to Cain's claims this week that the harassment charges were either false, or that the woman had misinterpreted his brand of humor.

One of two women who settled sexual harassment complaints against GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain when he headed the National Restaurant Association will know by Friday whether the group will release her from a confidentiality clause that prevents her from speaking about the agreement.

The woman, however, is unlikely to go public even if the lobbying group lifts the confidentiality requirements imposed as part of the 1999 cash settlement, her lawyer says.

The lawyer for a woman who settled a sexual harassment complaint against Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain in the late 1990s says that Cain may have violated the confidentiality terms of the agreement by commenting on its specifics over the past 24 hours.

"Herman Cain and others have already disclosed that there was a confidential settlement," says Joel P. Bennett, a Washington-based attorney specializing in employment law, who also represented the woman when she negotiated her settlement.