Fatal shooting renews tensions at Oakland protest camp (Reuters)

OAKLAND, Calif (Reuters) ? A man was shot to death on Thursday near a downtown Oakland plaza where hundreds of anti-Wall Street activists have camped out for a month, stoking renewed calls by some city officials to evict the protesters.

Recent unrest surrounding the Oakland encampment has helped rally supporters of Occupy Wall Street nationwide, a movement launched in New York in September to protest economic inequality and excesses of the financial system.

But spokesmen for the so-called Occupy Oakland demonstrators were quick to deny that the shooting, which occurred at a public transit station at the edge of the plaza, had anything to do with the protest movement.

The Oakland police issued a brief statement saying only that officers responding to a report of a shooting adjacent to the plaza "found a victim suffering from a gunshot wound."

The acting police chief, Howard Jordan, later told reporters at an impromptu news conference that investigators were "still trying to put the pieces together," adding, "Obviously, for someone to lose a life, that's a big deal."

Protest organizers said the shooting was an example of gun violence that flares routinely in the city and accused municipal officials of adding to a sense of fear and insecurity by leaving street lights off around the plaza after dark over the past two nights.

"This was another case of violence in the streets of Oakland, and it's going to be blamed on the occupation," said Tim Simons, one of several protesters who speaks for the group. "But if the city really wants to make it a safe occupation, they wouldn't shut off the lights."

Another spokesman, Shake Anderson, told the Local ABC News affiliate, KGO-TV, "This has nothing to do with the occupation or what was going on politically. This was a street incident."

He also suggested, however, that the person who died may have sought safety in the camp shortly before being shot.

"This is known throughout the world," Anderson said. "This is also known to be a safe spot. So if somebody does wrong things in their community, they might want to come here, and this is not the place for that."

BIGGEST FEAR REALIZED

In a separate KGO-TV interview, City Councilman Ignacio De La Fuente, said his "biggest fear has obviously happened."

"I have been very, very vocal about the fact that we cannot allow this to continue, because lives and property losses are what's at stake," he said. "We have to end this occupation."

The shooting comes at a time of tense relations between protesters who have set up a tent camp in the plaza and police who have already tried to forcibly remove them, efforts that have sparked confrontations.

Mayor Jean Quan has drawn withering criticism for her handling of previous attempts to shut down the encampment.

Police forcibly removed tents and drove protesters out of the plaza on October 25, only for demonstrators to return later that day to reclaim the public square outside City Hall in a clash with police that left one former Marine in the group badly injured by a tear gas canister.

Police and protesters clashed again the following week after a day of largely peaceful citywide rallies and marches that forced a brief shutdown of the Port of Oakland.

The circumstances of Thursday's shooting remained unclear hours after the incident.

Occupy Oakland organizers posted a message online saying that a man was shot and killed just before 5 p.m. and that the group's own medics were the first on the scene to assist him.

Six gunshots in rapid succession were audible in video footage posted online by KGO-TV.

Two protesters on the plaza at the time who did not give their names later told Reuters they had seen a group of young people arguing nearby about 20 minutes before they heard several shots fired, then saw crowds running away from that direction.

(Writing and reporting by Steve Gorman; Additional reporting by Noel Randewich; Editing by Cynthia Johnston)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/us/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111111/us_nm/us_protests_oakland_shooting_f

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Economy trumps social issues in conservative SC

Republican presidential candidate former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, speaks during a Republican Presidential Debate at Oakland University in Auburn Hills, Mich., Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2011. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Republican presidential candidate former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, speaks during a Republican Presidential Debate at Oakland University in Auburn Hills, Mich., Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2011. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Republican presidential candidates former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum and Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., are seen before a Republican presidential debate at Oakland University in Auburn Hills, Mich., Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2011. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

(AP) ? South Carolina's Christian conservatives, personified by Bob Jones University presidents and alums, have both made and broken presidential campaigns.

GOP candidates have for decades turned to the right to woo them after coming out of relatively moderate New Hampshire, and no Republican candidate since 1980 has become the nominee without winning South Carolina and its Bible-driven voters for whom a solid stance against abortion, gay rights and other social issues was paramount.

This year, the economy has changed the pecking order.

Evangelicals and the social issues crowd still matter ? and Republican presidential candidates are all but certain to air their positions on conservatives' concerns during a debate in Spartanburg, S.C., on Saturday. But that long-time pivotal constituency, like much of the country, is far more concerned about paychecks and food on the table. Meanwhile, the role played by the conservative Christian Bob Jones University and its leaders is waning.

Republican activist Alexia Newman runs a Spartanburg crisis pregnancy center and knows the social issues ? faith, family, abortion and same sex marriage ? are more of an undercurrent this election. Families, she said, are the fundamental economic unit ? and they need money and jobs.

"Everybody is saying people have got to have jobs ? and they do," Newman said. It's a stress on families and makes it challenge to push all the other issues. "They're all entwined," she said.

Talk to voters shopping for candidates and they're looking for anything but talk about abortion or same-sex marriages.

Bryan McLeod, a retired real estate agent from Moore, doesn't support gay rights but said he's more concerned about people having jobs, the national debt and the nation's borders being secure. Abortion and gay marriage? They're secondary, said McLeod, 66, and if a candidate is talking up those issues, "it seems like he's avoiding the real problems."

Gail Randall, a 54-year-old computer programmer in Greenville, said "it's all about the economy this year, I think, and job creation." And social issues? "I don't think they are as important this year, just because of the trying times we're having right now economically."

How far off the charts are social issues?

In a Winthrop University poll in September, more than 62 percent of Republican voters said the economy and jobs top their concerns. And the South Carolina Federation of Republican Women had a straw poll of its 110 activists at a convention in Greenville at the end of October. More than 40 said the economy and jobs were the issue for candidates to deal with. Social issues trailed at a distant fifth.

It's a clear signal, said LaDonna Ryggs, a federation board member who runs the Spartanburg County GOP and worked at Bob Jones until September. "You're going to vote your pocketbook," said Ryggs.

The priorities are shifting while Bob Jones University is off candidates' to-do lists. Only Anita Perry, wife of Texas Gov. Rick Perry, has made a stop at the school so far this cycle.

The current generation of Joneses isn't keeping up the political beat that has had a national impact since Ronald Reagan vied with former Texas Gov. John Connelly for the GOP nomination in 1980.

Gary Weier, the university's executive vice president of administration, said BJU president Stephen Jones "does not have that same interest that his father (Bob Jones III) had."

The father and son weren't available for interviews with The Associated Press.

The Jones endorsement revived George W. Bush's 2000 campaign. After a whipping in New Hampshire, Bush regrouped by launching his South Carolina drive from the school.

With or without the Bob Jones influence and the rise of pocketbook issues, Ryggs and others say Christian conservatives remain so ingrained in the state's politics that they can't be separated ? and must be courted by candidates.

For instance, one of former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum's first public events in the state was at Newman's crisis pregnancy center. Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann has regularly met with religious leaders as she's made the rounds. And Bachmann and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich both spoke to a large gathering of church leaders in Columbia this summer.

But the courtship has been obvious for Mitt Romney, a Mormon, and Georgia businessman Herman Cain, a conservative Baptist.

Joe Mack, a longtime state Baptist leader, said candidates have to talk about both. "I think we're very concerned about the economic issues, but we're not relenting any on the social issues either," Mack said.

And social issues, while not the emphasis the election, cannot be overlooked, said Drew McKissick, who led South Carolina's constitutional ban on gay marriage and also advised Romney's 2008 campaign.

"I don't think we'll see any credible candidate running for president who looks like they have a shot at the nomination shortchanging social conservatives on their positions," McKissick said.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2011-11-11-South%20Carolina-Christian%20Conservatives/id-e631064972864246976d4259f9b7cb09

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Dispatch Raises $965K To Manage All Of Your Cloud Files From One Place

dispatchlogo-1NYC-based startup Dispatch, which just graduated from the latest batch of TechStars NYC, has raised a $965,000 seed funding round. The round was led by Thrive Capital, with participation from SV Angel, Lerer Ventures, and a number of angel investors including Jared Hecht and Steve Martocci (who founded GroupMe together), TechStars founder David Cohen, TechStars NYC Managing Director David Tisch, Kal Vepuri, Bob Pasker, Matt Turck, and Zelkova Ventures. Also notable: Dispatch got its start at the TechCrunch Disrupt NYC hackathon earlier this year where it was the runner-up for best hack (you'll find a backstage interview with them?here). They're in good company ??GroupMe, whose founders are participating in the funding round, got its start at a Disrupt hackathon a year earlier and was recently acquired by Skype.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/BDWCJ4uD_-Y/

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While Cain Still Leads In New Poll, Signs of a Gingrich Surge (The Atlantic Wire)

This Friday morning, after a week of Herman Cain pressers and Rick Perry flubs, how did the evolving top tier of GOP contenders shake-up? Well, lets see: CBS News polling says it's down to three candidates right now with Cain still holding on to a slim lead, Mitt Romney trailing close behind and a somewhat real "surge" for Newt Gingrich. Cue a fast-talking, race track announcer voice:

[W]ith 18 percent, Herman Cain is in the top spot, followed by Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich with 15% each. Support for both Cain and Romney has declined since late last month, and Gingrich is the only one of the top three whose support is steadily - if slowly - on the upswing.

The Gingrich surge! Pundits have been waiting on that. But what about Rick Perry, the Texas governor that is everywhere on TV trying laugh away his painful debate performance? He's isn't seen in the CBS News write-up of the poll of the GOP's top-tier. Has he dropped that far? The CBS survey polled voters from last Sunday (when people were still making fun of Rick Perry's New Hampshire speech) to this Thursday (when everyone turned to his debate brain freeze). Perry, however, hasn't completely fallen off the map: the Real Clear Politics average of all polls places him fourth behind the new top tier.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/atlantic/20111111/pl_atlantic/whilecainstillleadsnewpollsignsgingrichsurge44859

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Turkish quake death toll rises to 25 (AP)

VAN, Turkey ? Rescuers on Friday recovered the dead body of one of the two journalists missing underneath the rubble of an earthquake-shattered hotel as the death toll in the second earthquake to hit eastern Turkey in about two weeks rose to at least 25.

A colleague identified a body found in the rubble of the collapsed hotel in the eastern city of Van as that of Cem Emir, a reporter for the Dogan news agency, who had rushed to the region in the aftermath of a more powerful earthquake, the state-run Anatolia news agency reported.

A second reporter for the agency, Sebahattin Yilmaz, was still missing beneath the debris of the Bayram Hotel, one of the two hotels that fell apart when the 5.7-magnitude quake hit Van late Wednesday.

"In our profession we always come across disasters," Dogan agency's general manager, Ugur Cebeci, told The Associated Press earlier as he watched rescuers in red overalls search through the debris of the once five-story hotel. "But we are grappling with helplessness here."

Emir, 26, worked at Dogan's office in Diyarbakir, the main city in Turkey's Kurdish-dominated southeast, and had won journalism prizes, the agency said.

Relief workers ? who had arrived in the city to help survivors of the earlier, more powerful earthquake that hit the region on Oct. 23 ? also became victims when the hotel, weakened by the earlier temblor, collapsed Wednesday. The fatalities include a Japanese relief worker who had come to distribute aid to quake survivors and eight employees of a company who were in Van to assemble temporary housing units for survivors.

Rescuers pulled out 13 bodies from the wreckage of the Bayram Hotel as well as the low-budget Aslan Hotel on Friday, raising the death toll to 25, according to state-run TRT television.

Authorities called off rescue operations at the Aslan by the late afternoon, but rescuers continued their search for possible survivors at the Bayram, their work made more difficult by heavy snow that began to fall in the evening.

It was not known Friday how many people remained buried in the rubble of the Bayram Hotel.

"We are not able to hear any voices," said Disaster management official Askit Dayi. "But still we are removing layers of concrete in a way as if there are survivors." He said the search efforts at both sites could end by midnight Friday.

Recep Salci of the rescue group Akut told NTV television that freezing temperatures at night were also posing a threat to any possible survivors.

Rescue teams were using an emergency evacuation plan to determine possible escape routes within the pancaked building, said Bulent Gunduz of the Siemens private rescue team. "We can see all escape routes and fire stairs," said Gunduz. "The emergency floor plan has become like a compass for us."

On Friday, Turkey notified countries offering help to deal with the new quake that it would accept tents and prefabricated homes to house survivors through the winter.

With even more people refusing to return to homes after the second quake, Deputy Prime Minister Besir Atalay said authorities were setting up thousands of more tents for the homeless. He said some of the quake survivors would be housed at state-run hotels around the country until the spring.

He urged citizens, meanwhile, to send heaters, blankets and food packages for the people of Van.

Angry residents protested in Van, accusing authorities of failing to properly inspect the buildings following the Oct. 23 quake that killed more than 600 people. Police responded with pepper spray.

Those protests spread to national TV when one anchorman, Mustafa Yenigun of Flash TV, covered his mouth with a black tape Thursday evening as he held a banner that read: "people are under the rubble because of uncompleted tasks" ? a reference to the failure to fully inspect damaged buildings.

Rescue worker Ramazan Demiregen said the steel rods in the columns of the collapsed Bayram Hotel were too thin.

The government said it was investigating possible negligence, and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said legal action would be taken against officials or experts who may have allowed the two hotels to continue operating.

Turks paid tribute to the dead Japanese aid worker, Atsushi Miyazaki, calling him a benefactor on Twitter and lamenting that he died in a relatively weak earthquake compared to the massive one and tsunami that devastated Japan in March.

President Abdullah Gul sent a message of condolence to Japan's Emperor Akihito, saying Miyazaki and an injured colleague would be remembered with gratitude by the Turkish people.

"His name is Atsushi, his surname is human," wrote Ertugrul Ozkok, a columnist for Hurriyet newspaper on Friday. "A great Samurai."

Miyazaki had helped distribute meat to quake survivors in Van province during Eid al-Adha, the Muslim feast of sacrifice. Other Japanese workers said they were thankful for Turkey's aid workers who came to help Japan in March, local media reported.

Miyazaki's 32-year-old female colleague, Miyuki Konnai, was rescued alive from the wreckage and was in stable condition.

The Japan's Association for Aid and Relief employee was caught in her hotel room while writing a report on her laptop after having visited villages affected by the earlier tremor.

"Suddenly the walls came toward me," the NTV television's website quoted her as saying. "I am afraid of the dark. When I looked around I saw the light from my laptop. This gave me hope for my survival."

___

Selcan Hacaoglu and Suzan Fraser in Ankara contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111111/ap_on_re_eu/eu_turkey_quake

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Officials: Sudan bombs South Sudan camp, kills 12 (AP)

NAIROBI, Kenya ? Military aircraft from Sudan crossed the new international border with South Sudan and dropped bombs Thursday in and around a camp filled with refugees fleeing violence in the north, officials said. At least 12 people were killed.

The violence in and near the Yida refugee camp, located 10 miles (15 kilometers) south of the border, came one day after bombings were reported in another region of South Sudan, an attack that provoked strong condemnation from the U.S. State Department.

The president of South Sudan, which became the world's newest country only four months ago, said he fears the Khartoum-based government intends to invade the south soon.

"Whatever allegations Khartoum labels against the Republic of South Sudan are baseless, but intended to justify his pending invasion of the south," President Salva Kiir said. He later added: "We are committed to peaceful resolutions to any conflict but we will never allow our sovereignty to be violated by anybody."

The violence is especially troubling given the history between the two sides: The black African tribes of South Sudan and the mainly Arab north battled two civil wars over more than five decades, and some 2 million died in the latest war, from 1983-2005.

A peace deal ended the war and South Sudan became its own country in July after a successful independence referendum. But there have been lingering disputes over border demarcation and oil-sharing revenues.

Miabek Lang, the commissioner of Pariang County in South Sudan's Unity State, said 12 people were killed and 20 were wounded in Thursday's bombing, and that the death toll could rise.

Jonathan Hutson, a spokesman for the U.S. advocacy group the Enough Project, said aid workers inside the Yida refugee camp said at least one bomb landed in the camp, and three or four fell outside it. The aid workers or their groups could not be named for security reasons, Hutson said.

Hutson said at least 15,000 refugees who fled violence in Sudan are living in the Yida camp. They walked at least seven days to reach the camp, he said.

The Wednesday bombings in Upper Nile state sparked condemnation from the U.S. State Department, which said the "unacceptable and unjustified" attacks increase the potential of conflict between Sudan and South Sudan. South Sudan's president said Thursday that seven people were killed in those bombings.

John Prendergast, the co-founder of the Enough Project, said the regime in Khartoum, Sudan's capital, is attempting to provoke South Sudan into restarting a war.

"The regime's end game is to either capture South Sudan's oil fields along their common border, or achieve a stronger negotiating position on shared oil revenues and border demarcation," Prendergast said. "This provocation must be countered by the full force of the international community, or else a massive war could unfold."

South Sudan's oil reserves must be pumped through pipelines that run through Sudan. Splitting the oil revenues has long been a major sticking point between the two sides. Another major issue is the demarcation of the border. Though the countries are now separate an official border has not yet been laid down.

Sudan has accused South Sudan of arming pro-South Sudan groups in its territory. But Kiir said Thursday that the accusations from Khartoum are "smoke screens" to mask Sudan's support of armed groups fighting a proxy war against South Sudan.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/africa/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111110/ap_on_re_af/af_south_sudan_violence

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Just Who Is Bachmann Calling a 'Frugal Socialist'? (ContributorNetwork)

COMMENTARY | It now appears that Rep. Michele Bachmann will say just about anything to get elected, even going so far as to call other Republicans "frugal socialists." While speaking at the Family Research Council in Washington on Monday, CNN reported that Bachmann went after her fellow GOP presidential nomination contenders, but lashed out with a pointed barb that she had previously reserved for Democrats and liberals, adding a somewhat complimentary adjective (for distinct categorization?). And her pointed words appeared to be designed for one candidate in particular.

"Unfortunately for too many Republicans, they also aspire to be frugal socialists," she said, then seemed to elaborate with a connection to presidential preference poll frontrunner Mitt Romney. "The reason President Obama and some Republicans can get behind socialized medicine is because they share the same core political philosophy about the purpose of government."

Bachmann, an avowed social conservative, staked out her claim as the most right of the Right long ago in the campaign, calling for the abolition of the EPA, the Energy and Education departments, and eliminating the corporate tax altogether. As the political conversation among conservatives seemed to move further to the right during the 2010 midterms, Bachmann appeared to be ready to seize on a more austere, pay-as-you-go, anti-government-involvement sentiment. Using the somewhat unpopular health care reform legislation as a central theme, she quickly gained support with strong showings in early debates and speeches. But the head of the Tea Party Caucus in the House of Representatives soon found that the original support for her campaign became diffused among several candidates but primarily filtered over to support for Atlanta businessman Herman Cain and late-to-the-party Texas governor Rick Perry.

At the same time, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, the man most under fire for the health care system -- not unlike the national reforms -- put in place in that state while he was governor (with his support), gives the impression of immovability. Throughout the GOP campaign, he has maintained poll numbers in the high teens and twenties, regardless of whether or not he has led or trailed.

So, even though Bachmann did not directly name Romney, she most certainly meant to conjure up an image of the former governor and his "socialist" medicine program while at the same time noting that his brand of conservativism was so in name only (thus the use of the word "frugal," a nod to fiscal responsibility and a way to delineate between a conservative candidate and President Obama, who conservatives have painted as a uncontrolled spendthrift).

"We cannot preserve liberty for ourselves and our posterity if the choice in next November is between a frugal socialist and an out-of-control socialist," she added for good measure, a suggestion that the future was just as bleak if Romney and Obama ultimately become the people's choices in the general election.

Bachmann, who saw her initial rise in the polls fall precipitously after the mid-August entry of Perry into the GOP race, apparently sees an avenue for a resurrection of her campaign via attacking Romney. With Perry -- who, like Bachmann, jumped to the fore in the polls quickly but subsequently slipped behind -- polling just a few percentage points ahead of her and Herman Cain, currently enjoying co-frontrunner status with Romney, besieged by a media firestorm surrounding sexual harassment allegations made a decade ago, there just might be room for a second surge in the polls in time to do well in the Iowa Caucus in January.

Unless, of course, Republicans would rather nominate a "frugal socialist" conservative as opposed to an extreme social conservative...

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20111109/us_ac/10392277_just_who_is_bachmann_calling_a_frugal_socialist

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AP Exclusive: Cain accuser complained in next job

Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain speaks to reporters about the sexual misconduct allegations against him, during a press conference at the Scottsdale Plaza Resort, Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2011, in Scottsdale, Ariz. Cain said Tuesday that he would not drop his bid for the Republicans? presidential nomination in the face of decade-old allegations of inappropriate sexual behavior. (AP Photo/The Arizona Republic, Nick Oz) MAGS OUT;

Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain speaks to reporters about the sexual misconduct allegations against him, during a press conference at the Scottsdale Plaza Resort, Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2011, in Scottsdale, Ariz. Cain said Tuesday that he would not drop his bid for the Republicans? presidential nomination in the face of decade-old allegations of inappropriate sexual behavior. (AP Photo/The Arizona Republic, Nick Oz) MAGS OUT;

(AP) ? Three years after Karen Kraushaar settled her sexual harassment complaint against Herman Cain and quit the trade association where they worked, she filed another complaint at her new job. She argued that supervisors there unfairly denied her request to work from home after a car accident and accused one of them of circulating a sexually oriented email, The Associated Press has learned.

Kraushaar, 55, says she later dropped the complaint that she filed while working as a spokeswoman at the Immigration and Naturalization Service in late 2002 or early 2003 and left the agency to take a job at the Treasury Department. She says she considered the immigration service complaint "relatively minor."

But three former supervisors say the allegations, which did not include a sexual harassment claim, were investigated and treated seriously. Two former supervisors say she initially demanded a settlement of thousands of dollars, a promotion on the federal pay scale, reinstated leave time and a one-year fellowship to Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. The promotion itself would have increased her annual salary between $12,000 and $16,000, according to salary tables in 2002 from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.

Details of the second complaint come as Kraushaar says she will provide specifics about the allegations she made against Cain, the GOP businessman now running for president who led the National Restaurant Association when she worked there. She is reaching out to three other Cain accusers, suggesting they can schedule a joint news conference to rebut Cain's insistence that he has never sexually harassed anyone.

The accusations against Cain surfaced briefly at Monday night's debate on the economy. The audience booed loudly as Cain was asked how the allegations would reflect on a business' chief executive.

Cain countered that Americans "don't care about the character assassination; they care about leadership." He added that says that since the allegations surfaced more than a week ago, "voters have voted with their dollars," and contributed to his campaign.

Earlier in the day, Cain's campaign said news of Kraushaar's complaint at the immigration service and details about another accuser's financial problems were "interesting revelations."

"We hope that the court of public opinion will take this into consideration as they, the women, continue to try to keep this story alive," spokesman J.D. Gordon said in a statement Wednesday.

The Cain campaign projected an air of business as usual with the release of his first TV ad of the season and the announcement that he will appear on the "Late Show with David Letterman" on Nov. 18.

Cain also appeared Wednesday night at a GOP candidates' debate in Michigan.

The 60-second ad, airing only in Iowa, amplifies Cain's oft-repeated claim that the Environmental Protection Agency is hurting farmers by attempting to regulate methane gas from livestock and agricultural dust. The EPA under President Barack Obama has said it has no such plans.

And the campaign announced an endorsement from Georgia state Sen. Renee Unterman, a Republican woman whose backing comes as Cain works to steady support among female voters amid increasingly graphic sexual harassment allegations.

Democrats were beginning to speak up on Cain.

The party's national chair, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida, said at a news conference before the debate, "They are very serious allegations and he must be called to account and be specific in his response to those allegations. He has not done that to date."

When Kraushaar filed her immigration service complaint against supervisors in late 2002 or early 2003, she turned to Joel Bennett, the same Washington lawyer who handled her earlier sexual harassment complaint against Cain.

"The concern was that there may have been discrimination on the job and that I was being treated unfairly," Kraushaar said.

Kraushaar said she did not remember details about the complaint and did not remember asking for a payment, a promotion or a fellowship. Bennett declined to discuss the case with the AP, saying he considered it confidential.

Kraushaar now works as a spokeswoman in the office of the Treasury Department's inspector general for tax administration.

Her complaint at the immigration service was based on supervisors denying her request to work fulltime from home after a serious car accident in 2002, three former supervisors said. Two of them said Kraushaar also had been denied previous requests to work from home before the car accident.

The complaint also cited as objectionable an email that a manager had circulated comparing computers to men and women, a former supervisor said. The complaint contended that the email, based on humor widely circulated on the Internet, was sexually explicit, according to the supervisor, who did not have a copy of the email. The joke circulated online lists reasons men and women are like computers, including that men are because "in order to get their attention, you have to turn them on." Women are like computers, it says, because "even your smallest mistakes are stored in long-term memory for later retrieval."

Kraushaar told the AP that she remembered the complaint focusing on supervisors denying her the opportunity to work from home after her car accident. She said other employees were allowed to work from home.

Kraushaar, who is married and lives in suburban Maryland, was one of two women who formally settled harassment complaints against Cain in exchange for severance payments in the late 1990s when they worked at the restaurant association. Bennett has said Kraushaar settled her claim during the summer of 1999, shortly after Cain left the organization. Neither Kraushaar nor Bennett has described exactly what Cain was accused of saying or doing when she worked there. The New York Times has reported that Kraushaar received $45,000 in the settlement with the restaurant association.

Kraushaar agreed to discuss some aspects of the complaint at the immigration service if the AP agreed to protect her privacy, as it did in previous accounts of her complaint against Cain. She subsequently waived her privacy by confirming for news organizations her identity as one of two women who settled complaints against Cain, so the AP no longer is shielding her identity.

Cain said allegations of sexual harassment by Kraushaar ? whom Cain identified by name in a televised news conference Tuesday ? were determined to be "baseless" at the restaurant association. But he did not explain who made this determination, and Kraushaar has disputed this. Cain said that after negotiations between Bennett and the association's outside counsel she received money under an employment agreement, which Cain said was different from a legal settlement.

"When she made her accusations, they were found to be baseless and she could not find anyone to corroborate her story," Cain said.

Cain said he remembered gesturing to Kraushaar and noting that she was the same height as his wife, about chin-high to him. The Georgia businessman said Kraushaar did not react noticeably, but he said the restaurant association lawyer later told him that was the most serious claim that Kraushaar had made against him, "the one she was most upset about."

"Other things that might have been in the accusations, I'm not aware of, I don't remember," Cain said.

Bennett told reporters Wednesday that Kraushaar suffered multiple incidents of harassment and would not have filed a claim based only on a comment about height.

"My client is an intelligent, well-educated woman. She would never file a sexual harassment complaint about a comment like that," he said.

Cain has vowed to strike back at his accusers and respond to any allegations. His Atlanta-based lawyer, Lin Wood, said Wednesday the campaign had asked the restaurant association for the complaints that Kraushaar and the other employee filed so he could prepare a more complete response, but the group refused to release them.

Sharon Bialek, a Chicago woman who once worked for the restaurant association's education foundation, accused Cain this week of groping her and attempting to force himself on her inside a parked car after they had dinner in 1997. Another woman told the AP that Cain made unwanted sexual advances to her while she worked for the association, and a pollster said he witnessed Cain sexually harass another woman after an association dinner.

The complaint at the immigration service was "nobody's business," Kraushaar said, because it was irrelevant to her sexual harassment settlement with Cain years earlier. "What you're looking for here is evidence of an employee who is out to get people," she said. "That's completely untrue."

Kraushaar, who started her career in Washington as a reporter, was praised for her work in 2000 when she traveled to Miami to help immigration officials during the coverage of the Elian Gonzalez case when federal agents seized the boy from relatives to return him to his father in Cuba.

"Ms. Kraushaar's assistance was invaluable and her performance extraordinary," wrote Robert A. Wallis, the immigration service district director in Miami. Kraushaar provided seven such letters of recommendation to show that her performance was commendable while working at the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the restaurant association and the immigration service.

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Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2011-11-09-Cain/id-de59297d1c314e06a04a1191840fc259

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