CAIN, SEEN AS A SLEAZE BY NEARLY FOUR IN TEN REPUBLICANS, IS STILL BETTER LIKED THAN PERRY

That's in his party, at least -- and in his party he's still almost as well liked as Romney:

Allegations that Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain sexually harassed women in the 1990s have begun to damage his bid for the White House, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found.

The poll showed the percentage of Republicans who view Cain favorably dropped 9 percentage points, to 57 percent from 66 percent a week ago....

A majority of respondents, 53 percent, believe sexual harassment allegations against Cain are true despite his denials. Republicans were less likely to believe they are true, with 39 percent thinking they are accurate....

The poll found that Romney, who is more a candidate of the Republican establishment, has a favorability among Republican voters of 63 percent, while rival Rick Perry, the Texas governor, is viewed favorably by 47 percent....

So maybe he's taking on water -- or maybe he's taken as much of a hit as he's going to take. In any case, at this point he's still 10 points ahead of Perry on favorability, and just 6 points behind Romney. Now, maybe if he hired an undocumented immigrant and then sexually harassed her....