Herman Cain’s presidential campaign is dying.

In the face of even more allegations of sexual misconduct, his candidacy is on the edge, according to The New York Times. Another woman, Ginger White, alleged that she and Cain had a 13-year extramarital affair. White reminisced, saying the affair was a lot of fun, and essentially painted Cain as having wined and dined her and taken her away from her “humdrum life.” Then suddenly, as though Cain was preparing to sweep all his skeletons into the closet, Cain ended the affair and announced his campaign for president.

There is not yet proof of the affair, but that has not stopped the problems for Cain. Steve Grubbs, Cain’s Iowa campaign chariman, told The New York Times that fundraising has become difficult with so many allegations surfacing.

Cain has already survived three separate claims of sexual harassment earlier in this campaign, but he’s begun to fall off the map, lacking both support and knowledge. Although his “9-9-9” plan seemed to really have gained some steam, Cain’s ability to challenge President Barack Obama has come under scrutiny. Coupled with little knowledge of how to interact with foreign leaders, Cain also managed to whip up some humorous country names like “uz beke beke stan stan,” further making a mockery of his campaign. It was bad enough that he was regarded as nothing more than a pizza shop owner with a 9-9-9 plan that sounded like the old Domino’s Pizza 5-5-5 deal.

Cain’s campaign was born out of the Republican Party’s desire to have an alternative option to the apparent front-runner Mitt Romney. While it was popular at first, it’s become pitiful. Cain’s only response to nearly every question is 9-9-9. While Bill Clinton once ran on the motto, “it’s the economy, stupid,” that isn’t really all there is to a presidential campaign.

With the Cain Train slamming head on into scandal, it appears the next best option is Newt Gingrich. Gingrich, who has had his own bumpy campaign, is a former speaker of the House with some actual experience in Washington, D.C. But does that really sound like something the national political trends support?

While the Tea Party has declined in popularity, with little surprise, there are still people out there who are fed up with the political stalemates and “business as usual” sentiment. Pardon the word, but people really do want change. They want something new, perhaps even someone who has vision and little political experience, at least little Washington experience. How do you think Cain became so popular in the first place?

Perhaps people aren’t “mad as hell” like they were in 2010, but they’re still up in arms. Do they really want a man who once was at the center of a government shutdown? Do they really want a politician who once improperly and unethically used funds to be the man responsible for balancing the budget? Perhaps not even Gingrich is a good alternative to Romney.

Republicans may cringe to hear it, but Romney is their best bet. Turn your head all you want, Republicans, but Romney at least has some experience running a presidential campaign — at least he was a primary candidate last year. He might not be able to differentiate himself enough from Obama, and he might not be able to get crowds fired up easily, but he seems to be the only clean and promising candidate the GOP has left.

— Storm Byrd is the Perspectives editor. He can be reached at letters@wildcat.arizona.edu.