Gingrich's Iowa bounce helped by Cain backers

Republican presidential contenders Newt Gingrich and Michele Bachmann are attracting most of businessman Herman Cain's former Iowa supporters, according to Steve Grubbs, Cain's top Iowa adviser.

Cain lost roughly 25 percent of his Iowa supporters in the month of November, after several women alleged Cain sexually harassed them and another said she had a 13-year affair with him, said Grubbs, who hasn't decided whether to endorse a candidate.

Roughly eight in 10 of those who left the Cain train decided to back Gingrich's campaign, whereas another 13 percent flocked to Bachmann, according to Grubbs' internal polling data. The rest divided nearly evenly among the remaining candidates, he said.

But Bachmann campaign aides said there's no way Gingrich is gaining such a large percentage of Cain's backers.

"Many of Mr. Cain's supporters are Tea Party supporters, and it doesn't make sense that they would support someone with Mr. Gingrich's record of influence-peddling in Washington," said Alice Stewart, spokeswoman for Bachmann. "I mean, he's practically the grandfather of Obamacare and the individual mandate."

Gingrich has taken heat for once supporting the widely unpopular individual mandate, which requires taxpayers to purchase health insurance under the health care law that congress passed in 2010.

A large percentage of Cain's former supporters are overlooking Gingrich's imperfections because they see him as the most formidable candidate to beat President Obama, said Judd Saul, spokesman for the Black Hawk County Republicans. ...

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