WASHINGTON - The former boyfriend of Herman Cain's first public accuser stepped into the national spotlight on Monday to back up his ex's allegations that the Republican front-runner not only knew the woman, but lewdly groped her 14 years ago.
Victor Zuckerman, a pediatrician based in Louisiana, said Sharon Bialek had dinner with Herman Cain in 1997, hoping to get career advice from the head of the National Restaurant Association at the time, and came home distraught.
"I can confirm when she returned, she was upset," Zuckerman said Monday at a news conference in Shreveport, Bialek's high-profile lawyer Gloria Allred by his side.
"She said something had happened, and that Mr. Cain had touched her in an inappropriate manner. She said she handled it and did not want to discuss it further. I respected her."
In allegations that have rocked Cain's campaign, Bialek alleged last week that he shoved his hand up her skirt and attempted to push her head towards his crotch after driving her back to her D.C. hotel following dinner. When she resisted, she alleges he replied: "You want a job, don't you?"
Cain has denied behaving inappropriately with anyone, and says he doesn't recall ever laying eyes on Bialek, the first of two women to put their names to the allegations. Two other, unnamed women also allege Cain sexually harassed them.
Zuckerman disputed Cain's insistence he didn't know Bialek. The registered Republican had already signed an affidavit backing up Bialek's allegations, but provided more details on Monday.
"During the National Restaurant Association convention in Chicago, Sharon indeed did meet and spend time with Mr. Cain," he said, detailing how Cain invited the couple to a party in his hotel suite after the event.
"At that party, Mr. Cain engaged both of us in conversation."
There were signs Monday that the ongoing scandal is beginning to hurt Cain's campaign after it appeared, initially, that he was weathering the storm. A new CNN poll suggested Cain had dropped nine percentage points from a peak of 25 per cent a month ago, trailing Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich, respectively.
Zuckerman divulged his own financial woes at the news conference, apparently in a pre-emptive strike against suggestions from the Cain campaign that he was coming forward for financial gain.
Due to events beyond his control, Zuckerman said, he had declared bankruptcy and is currently repaying his debts. He added he's never committed a crime or a malpractice, and said there are "no actions against me."
The Cain campaign sent out an email following Bialek's news conference last week outlining a history of financial woes, suggesting she needed money and was on the take. Cain officials pointed the finger at the "Democrat machine," but Bialek denied being compensated by anyone for speaking out.
Zuckerman added it was his idea for Bialek, a former employee at the restaurant association, to meet up with her old boss to seek career advice. The couple broke up several months after the alleged incident, he said, but remain friends.
The news conference was held just hours before an interview with Gloria Cain, the elusive wife of the candidate, was set to air on Fox News -- her first since her husband of 43 years announced he was running for president.
"I know that's not the person he is," she said in an interview with Greta Van Susteren.
When it comes to matters of the opposite sex, Cain has repeatedly landed himself in trouble. He once referred to women as "flowers" and called top Democrat Nancy Pelosi "Princess Nancy" in last week's Republican debate -- a term for which he later apologized.
In an interview with GQ magazine published Monday, he was asked to assign ice-cream flavours to each of his rivals. He gave Mitt Romney "vanilla," Rick Perry "rocky road," and "black walnut" for himself.
For Michele Bachmann, he chose "tutti frutti."
"He totally respects women," Gloria Cain said. Were he guilty of the harassment accusations, he'd have to have been suffering from some kind of mental disorder, she added.
"I looked at especially this last lady and the things that she said -- I'm thinking he would have to have a split personality to do the things that she said."
Cain, who acknowledged the "tutti frutti" remark would likely get him in trouble, is also quoted by GQ as saying the "vast majority" of American Muslims are extremists.
"I have had one very well-known Muslim voice say to me directly that a majority of Muslims share the extremist views," he said. He did not identify the person, but insisted he believes the claim "because of the respect that I have for this individual."
It wasn't the first time Cain has expressed anti-Muslim views. In March, he said he wouldn't feel "comfortable" appointing Muslims to his cabinet if he was president.
