Cain advisers largely standing by candidate

Florida Cain chairman and state representative Scott Plakon takes Cain at his word when he says he did not have a 13-year affair with Atlanta businesswoman Ginger White. But he added he expects the press to investigate the allegations further.

"My opinion is if he did have an affair, he should get out [of the race]," Plakon says.

Plakon was one of a slew of new Cain advisors and staff members announced in Florida last month when the campaign was riding high. Now he says the campaign needs to look at how it is structured.

"Their crisis management could use a little bit of help," Plakon says.

In the crucial early state of Iowa, Cain senior adviser Steve Grubbs put out a full-throated defense of his candidate, according to an email obtained by Politico. 

"Both John McCain and Bill Clinton had similarly difficult times in their presidential campaigns," Grubbs wrote in an email to supporters. "They both weathered the storm and emerged to be their parties' nominees."

Arizona state chairman Lori Klein echoed Grubb's support and praised Cain for reaching out to his supporters this morning.

"I think it was very honorable of him to let us know what was going on," Klein said.

Klein, who has known Cain for 12 years, added that he "had never been anything but a gentleman" towards her.

"And I am not an unattractive woman," she said.

William Head, Cain's South Carolina state director, is already looking ahead.

"Mr. Cain is scheduled to be in South Carolina on Friday," Head said in an email.

But for some Cain supporters, this latest allegation proved to be too much.

Two New Hampshire State Representatives, William Panek and Sam Cataldo, said today they were switching their allegiances from Cain to former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

"I pretty much just had had enough," Panek told CBS News about White's charges and evidence of the affair. News of his and Cataldo's defections were first reported by WMUR.