>> i think that barack obama is somebody who sincerely believes things that are totally nuts. >> could newt gingrich be the next best hope for the gop? >> i'm an idealist, a romantic and a permanent optimist. that's the american tradition. >> this is "piers morgan tonight." good evening. we'll get to my surprisingly intense and revealing interview with newt gingrich later in the hour, but first new details on the sexual misconduct accusations against herman cain. the first woman to accuse cain has now been revealed. she's karen kraushaar. i'll talk to her lawyer in a moment. you heard what sharon bialek told me about cain last night. >> i believe that he first needs to apologize and he needs to admit it. then it's up to him to decide what to do next. >> a little while ago herman cain held a news conference. listen to what he had to say. >> these accusations that were revealed yesterday are simply did not happen. >> joel bennett representing karen kraushaar, the first woman to come forward and accuse cain of sexual harassment. he joins me from his home in maryland. mr. bennett, let's get to the bottom of this because your client has now come out in public. why? >> she's come out in public because her name was revealed by the media, and she's decided, since her name is in the media now, that she wants to get the details of her complaint out since mr. cain is still denying any sexual harassment or impropriety. >> herman cain says about your client that the only thing he can recall in terms of any complaint made was telling her that he was the same -- that she was the same size as his wife. is that accurate? is that the full extent of the alleged harassment? >> it certainly is not. >> herman cain says about your client that the only thing he can recall in terms of any complaint made was telling her that he was the same -- that she was the same size as his wife. is that accurate? is that the full extent of the alleged harassment? >> it certainly is not. my client is a very intelligent, well educated woman. she would never file a complaint about an innocent remark like that. my client is 5'2". she's not the same height as mr. cain's wife. and the incidents that were reported to the national restaurant association were multiple, over multiple days. >> i suppose the obvious question -- and i put this to sharon bialek last night, another accuser -- is that given the passage of time, being over a decade, how is anyone going to prove anything? >> it's not a question of proof. the question is did mr. cain know about these incidents and what, if anything, did he do about them. my client submitted a written, detailed complaint to the national restaurant association, and she is a very credible person, and we expect as soon as possible for her to get into more detail in a press conference or other public forum, then the public can decide who's telling the truth. >> absolutely right. but what surprises me is herman cain isn't a complete nobody. he has run for various high office positions before. and none of the women involved in this splurge of story this week has ever come forward before. why is that? >> my client settled this matter confidentially in 1999. she had no desire to make it public. a former board member of the national restaurant association leaked the information about these two complaints to politico over a week ago, and once that happened and mr. cain started denying everything and calling them baseless fabrications, my client felt she had to come forward and defend herself. she had no desire to become a public figure. >> can you confirm that your client was paid $45,000 to settle her complaint at the time? >> the amount of the settlement is confidential and i won't get into the details of it but there was a monetary settlement. >> i'm going to bring in cnn's gloria borger who has spoken to your client, karen kraushaar. let me talk to you, gloria. what was the conversation that you had like? >> well, i think this is a woman, as joel bennett has said, who really didn't want to make this public. she said to me, i was sick of this 12 years ago. but now it's no longer a private matter, it's a personally embarrassing matter. she is clearly somebody who wants to set the record straight. and she made it clear to me that she has kept copies of all of her allegations and she doesn't need to go to the national restaurant association for permission to release them now that her confidentiality has been waived. so i believe we could potentially see the release of these documents with names >> but gloria, let me just play you what herman cain said about your client because it was pretty y because of the women coming out on the record but because he's changed his story so many times. first he blamed this on a leak from the perry campaign, then he blamed it on the media, then he blamed it on a democratic conspiracy against him, and so those kind of shifting blame also i think causes him a lot of problems with his own credibility. >> if it is the end of cain, who does this benefit most? i interviewed a very upbeat newt gingrich, which we'll be seeing later in the show. he clearly feels there's an opportunity. i would bet jon huntsman is thinking the same thing. could this open up doors for these other candidates? >> among conservative voters i've talked to, particularly in iowa, the real problem with herman cain is he's shifting his position on abortion, as you know very well, since it was your interview. so i think that he's losing credibility in a lot of areas. i think newt gingrich may appeal to those voters, rick perry may appeal to those voters. mitt romney still has problems with evangelical voterses. michele bachmann would like to get some of those voters, but i think they have other problem with herman cain aside from the sexual harassment charges. >> yeah, let's go back to joel bennett for the last word here. would you bring your client on with other women who made accusations, maybe sharon bialek or others if they come forward on to this show and discuss this live? >> i saw ms. allred and her client yesterday in that news conference for the very first time. as i sat in my hotel room with a couple of my staff members, as they got to the microphone, my first response in my mind and reaction was i don't even know who this woman is. >> gloria allred, i mean, he said he doesn't even know who this woman is. what did you make of that when you saw him say that? >> well, he seemed to shift from he couldn't recall, he doesn't know, and then, you know, kind of dancing all over the place. you know, he met -- according to my client, not only her but her boyfriend as well. why would she have told two friends including her boyfriend, a pediatrician, that cain sexually harassed her some 14 years ago if she did not believe that it was true? you know, i just think -- i think it's time for mr. cain to go under oath. i'd like to see the senate hold hearings on whether sexual harassment laws need to be strengthened and have them subpoena herman cain and testify under oath to each and every one of the specific allegations that he's women have made against him and what he knew and when he knew it and what he did and what he didn't do. he should testify under penalty of perjury and let the american people hear all the specifics, not just a blanket denial. >> let me go back to joel bennett there. would you like to see that, mr. cain have to testify under oath now? do you think it's that serious? >> as a presidential candidate, i don't know that there's any forum for doing that, unlike the clarence thomas confirmation hearings, but i was happy to say i hear ms. allred say she'd like to get a giant statement and eye like to work with her on that. >> amy, you've heard the various lawyers here. you've also seen now two of the women who have come forward of the four who made allegations. what is your overview of all this? can herman cain survive? >> well, i certainly can't speak to the credibility of his accusers and what happened 14 years ago, but we can look at the polls and reuters has a poll out after sharon bialek's statement yesterday and he's now behind mitt romney. falling nine points since last week. and 39% in this reuters poll said they believed those allegations yesterday. clearly the cain campaign feels that this is hurting his efforts because they had that press conference today to try to address these claims. whether or not they were able to close the door on them, i'm highly doubtful. i think he opened a new can of worms particularly when he said that he'd be willing to take a lie detector test. you were speaking with gloria allred and she demanded that he go up to capitol hill to testify under oath. i don't think that's going to happen, but herman cain has invited more of these questions and inquiry. >> let me bring back gloria borger then. politically, where is herman cain now? his poll ratings are sudden sliding. he looks in big trouble. >> he is in big trouble. i don't think the press conference today put the questions to rest. what you're starting to see now is other republican candidates like mitt romney out there saying that the charges are troubling. and i think that there's a clear sense among republican voters that he hasn't answered all the questions. there are reports from the cain campaign that they've raised a lot of money tonight. i don't know the exact figure. since his press conference, which leads me to believe that the true believers who support herman cain may continue to support herman cain. but it gets more and more difficult not only because of the women coming out on the record but because he's changed his story so many times. first he b iowa, the real problem with herman cain is he's shifting his position on abortion, as you know very well, since it was your interview. so i think that he's losing credibility in a lot of areas. i think newt gingrich may appeal to those voters, rick perry may appeal to those voters. mitt romney still has problems with evangelical voters. michele bachmann would like to get some of those voters, but i think they have other problem with herman cain aside from the sexual harassment charges. >> yeah, let's go back to joel bennett for the last word here. would you bring your client on with other women who made accusations, maybe sharon bialek or others if they come forward on to this show and discuss this live? >> the first step will be people a chance to live a life of freedom and opportunity. >> when i watch the debates, i always think as a dispassionate observer who can't vote for any of you, so i don't have a horse in this race, i look at all of you and i think, newt gingrich, smart guy. you're known as the professor. probably the smartest guy in the room and certainly an excellent debater, which is a skill that will be needed against barack obama come the real election battle. why is it that you haven't until now got more support, do you think? what is it about you that to date hasn't really electrified the republicans? >> there are two things. one is that i entered this race with a huge amount of background story, some public, some private, which led people initially to think, well, i'm not sure i want him. and part of what the debates have done is they've been able to see me without editing. and therefore they've been able to say, gee, that's not the guy i thought he was. they had to take a second look at me before i had a chance. the debates began to do that. the second reason was i made a mistake in the spring. i brought in very smart traditional consultants and i'm not a traditional candidate. i run a very, very ideal >> let's look at ohio here. this is the ballot issue about collective bargains. earlier this year the governor signed into law a law that says that they're going to really restrict collective bargaining in this country -- in ohio for the government worker, about this says from the moment that an egg is fertilized, it becomes a person, with all the rights attendant to a person. this would basically outlaw all forms of abortion. with 24/7 customer support to help move them to the pool daddy promised! look at me, i'm swimming! somebody, get her a pony! [ female announcer ] the travelocity guarantee. from the price to the room to the trip you'll never roam alone. okay... uhh. the bad news, it's probably totaled. the good news is, you don't have to pay your deductible. with vanishing deductible from nationwide insurance, you got $100 off for every year of safe driving, so now your deductible is zero. the other good news ? i held on to your coffee. wow. ♪ nationwide is on your side ( laughing ) it's actually a pretty good day when you consider. that's great. joining me now is a man who wants to be your next president. former house speaker newt gingrich. he's the author of the novel "battle of the crater." good to finally sit down with you. you've been described as one of the great abba fans of the world. we heard your cell phone ring tone go off a few months ago with "dancing queen" bellowing to the world. this has led to a whole lot of speculation about the abba factor of newt gingrich. are you aware of it? >> i was not aware of it. i welcome all abba fans. >> rather like abba, you're a guilty pleasure. they don't want to admit liking you, but every time you speak at the moment, they burst into applause and feel like dancing. >> well, if i can do as well as "mamma mia" did, i would feel very happy with the outcome. >> to be serious, you are very suddenly coming up the rail. it's been a long summer and we're heading into the long fall and into the winter. and people are beginning to talk about you now in a much more serious way than they were a few months ago. what do you put that down to? >> first of all, i tell people that the tortoise is the motto of our campaign. we're trying to go one foot at a time. well, then the fable story the bunny rabbit runs by and falls asleep and the tortoise just keeps coming. hopefully mitt romney will be the bunny rabbit and i'll be the tortoise and it will work out perfectly. >> there have been five front-runners so far in the gop race, most of whom have fallen by the wayside. mitt romney appears to have plateaued around the 24% mark as he has done before, indicating that with the main body of gop support, he has limitations with that vote. and he may have reached them. this is leading people to think, okay, we need an alternative. who is it going to be? your friend herman cain -- and we'll come to him in a moment -- has got problems which could be the depth charge to his campaign. rick perry because of the debates where you've done much better than him, appears to be in a bit of free fall. people are thinking, okay, well, who else? and the obvious person to many people's minds now is newt gingrich. >> well, i think what i've tried to do is very much like reagan in that i had laid out a set of ideas. i've now written 24 books. i've had a long public career. i tried to develop a series of things like a personal social security count for young people, a very aggressive lower taxes and less regulation approach to creates jobs, a strong american energy plan. it is not about which of these guys do you like, it is who do you think can get the country back creating jobs, creating a better future, fixing the housing crisis, giving our young people a chance to live a life of freedom and opportunity. >> when i watch the debates, i always think as a dispassionate observer who can't vote for any of you, so i don't have a horse in this race, i look at all of you and i think, newt gingrich, smart guy. you're known as the professor. probably the smartest guy in the room and certainly an excellent debater, which is a skill that will be needed against barack obama come the real election battle. why is it that you haven't until now got more support, do you think? what is it about you that to date hasn't really electrified the republicans? >> there are two things. one is that i entered this race with a huge amount of background story, some public, some private, which led people initially to think, well, i'm not sure i want him. and part of what the debates have done is they've been able to see me without editing. and therefore they've been able to say, gee, that's not the guy i thought he was. they had to take a second look at me before i had a chance. the debates began to do that. the second reason was i made a mistake in the spring. i brought in very smart traditional consultants and i'm not a traditional candidate. i run a very, very ideal oriented campaign. think of it as a long form where most consultants want to do 30 second attack ads, i want to do 30-minute speeches. we got off track for four months. even today we're still about eight or nine weeks behind where i had hoped to be at this point. >> the infamous holiday you took, which led to most of your staff quitting. do you regret that? hindsight? >> that's exactly -- it was the perfect thing to do, for two reasons. first of all, those people needed to leave. they had a vision of a traditional campaign, which i couldn't possibly run. i had a vision of a very different ideal oriented, solution oriented solution based on the internet which they couldn't run. i'd love for you to run my campaign. i can't be the candidate for your campaign. there's a second reason, though. and this is where i got, frankly, a little bit of exhausted about this sort of gossip approach. being in greece in june was very helpful. >> why? >> because we talked to people who were explaining the greek view of the world. and you realize, this is going to be a real mess. i mean, you have deep resentment of the germans who, from the greek standpoint, occupied the country in world war ii, stole all of their gold, and if they repaid it at compounded would be about the amount that the greek owe the germans. >> is this part of a cunning plan to preguess the economic crisis? >> no, what i'm going to tell you is having leader that actually take time off to go learn something -- >> today the "usa today"/gallup poll has mitt romney and herman cain tied at 21%, you were the third most preferred candidate at 12%. let's start with herman cain. he's getting engulfed at the moment in the firestorm of scandal? >> sure. >> how credible is this scandal for him? how should he be dealing with it? what's your advice? >> i think we'll know in a few weebs. clearly herman has to answer the allegations and he has to answer them convincingly and compellingly. people have to conclude that whatever answer he gives -- and i'm not trying to prejudge it -- that he has leveled and told the country the truth. now, if that happens, two or three weebs from now he can still be the front-runner. >> you've known him for 16 years. >> i don't want to prejudge. he has to deal with the allegations. i don't. i like herman cain a lot. i think he's had enormous courage. he's clearly had a much better run than he thought he would. he's the front-runner in some polls or tied to be the front-runner in other polls. that's pretty amazing achieve achievement for someone who hadn't run for president before. >> although he's a friend of yours and political ally -- >> you're more fascinated by this than i am. >> i am. >> i'm not. >> he's the front-runner. he sold pizzas. the nonpolitician, yet he's being sucked into the political system of whack, whack, whack. >> because the american news media is devoted to gossip and obstruction. let me give you an example totally different than herman cain. some graduate student some day will do about. you go back and take the total volume of time give on the anthony weiner's utterly stupid tweets. then you say to yourself, we could is spent that time talking about alzheimer's, spent it talking about energy, why our space program is totally messed up. there are dozens of serious, substantive topics none of which could c