Cain accuser stands by claim of longtime affair

WASHINGTON (AP) -- An Atlanta businesswoman who has asserted she had a longstanding affair with Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain stood by her story Wednesday despite his denials, saying she was not proud to admit it.

"Our relationship was on and off for the last 13, 14 years," Ginger White said in a nationally broadcast interview. "This was not a consistent love affair that went on every day for the last 14 years, so he is correct when he made that statement."

But White also said she was "disappointed" that Cain had called her a "troubled Atlanta businesswoman."

Cain had described White in that fashion in a letter he sent to campaign supporters Tuesday, saying he was writing to assure them that "this woman's story is completely false."

"I'm not here to say anything negative about Mr. Cain," White said on ABC's "Good Morning America." At the same time, she said she had gone on television "to state the truth," and that she wasn't backing down.

She said her relationship with Cain was "a very casual affair. Am I proud to admit that? No, I am not."

White also said she took several trips with Cain, including a flight to Las Vegas to see a Mike Tyson-Evander Holyfield boxing match.

She also said that she had "consistently" received gifts and money from Cain over the past two and a half years, but added that this was "not sex for cash."

During a conference call Tuesday with supporters, Cain once again denied the affair. "It was just a friendship relationship," he said, according to the transcript. "That being said, obviously, this is a cause for reassessment."

White told ABC she didn't think Cain "would make a good president" but said that she did not come forward because of any political motives. Asked if she thought he should abandon his campaign, White said, "That's something that he has to look himself into the mirror and ask himself."

And she said she had regular communications with Cain "up until last week."

"The truth of the matter is, when I entered into this inappropriate relationship with Mr. Cain, I was single," she said. "I was not married. Mr. Cain has been married throughout this entire relationship."

Asked about phone records showing frequent correspondence with Cain, including text messages, she replied: "You really don't enter into that holding onto receipts, holding onto notes."

"The funny thing about Herman Cain is that never in a million years did he probably think I would speak out on this," White said. "I came out being very honest and so far I have been absolutely humiliated, embarrassed."

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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