A new book says Jon Huntsman’s 2012 campaign had no problems with playing dirty.
The book “Double Down: Game Change 2012” says Huntsman’s campaign leaked the information that fellow GOP candidate Herman Cain had been accused of harassment by a number of women. Those allegations eventually drove Cain from the race.
Authors John Heilemann and Mark Halperin write in “Double Down: Game Change 2012″ that a campaign that no one really expected was behind the oppo on Cain.
“After getting a tip from a donor, Huntsman’s researchers had dug into Cain’s past, discovered the first two sexual harassment claims, and fed the story to Politico,” the book recounts, according to an excerpt in U.S. News and World Report. “As they waited for Politico to turn their tip into a story, members of Huntsman’s circle asked each other when the ‘high heel’ was going to drop on Cain.”
The revelation that Huntsman’s campaign was behind the rumors is ironic, considering how the former U.S. Ambassador to China lamented during the episode that the Cain allegations were keeping Republicans from talking about real issues during the campaign.
These allegations follow an earlier story from the same book that Jon Huntsman, Sr. was the source for Sen. Harry Reid’s claim that Mitt Romney hadn’t paid taxes in over 10 years. Huntsman has denied the allegations.
