Cain may announce 2012 decision Saturday: reports

Embattled Republican White House hopeful Herman Cain meetssupporters Saturday and could indicate whether he will continue his campaign amid a series of sex scandal allegations, reports said.

Cain is officially scheduled to open his Georgia headquarters in Atlanta, and the Washington Post said the former pizza executive will give supporters advance word of whether he intends to continue his race.

The daily, which quoted sources close to the campaign, reported Friday that one supporter summoned to the private session said he believes Cain will withdraw from the race. But another source told the Post Cain had made no decision.

Cain, once the front-runner to take on Democrat President Barack Obama in the November 2012 elections, has denied a series ofallegations, including the latest from Ginger White, who says they had a 13-year affair which ended only a few months ago.

Fox News reported Cain would make a "major announcement" Saturday but offered no details. The candidate told Fox earlier the latest allegations were false, but that he would meet with his wife, Gloria, to discuss the situation.

"Many of my supporters, the response has been overwhelmingly positive that they are behind me, but I've got to consider family considerations first," Cain told the TV network.

Cain said earlier this week he would make a decision on whether to stay in the race before Monday.

The former pizza company executive has already faced allegations that he sexually harassed several women -- all of which he has denied -- and seen his ratings drop in the opinion polls.

Cain, 65, rose dramatically in the polls in September and October, but his approval ratings have since dipped amid the series of lurid accusations.

A poll release this week showed rival Republican Newt Gingrich has widened his lead, with the former speaker of the US House of Representatives surging ahead in recent days, notably as the campaigns of Cain and Mitt Romney stall.

Gingrich, a longtime force in the Republican Party, received 38 percent support from respondents in a Rasmussen survey of likely Republican primary voters, more than twice the support given to Romney, who had been deemed by many to be the default frontrunner.