Cain campaign comes to an end

A tumultuous month and even stranger presidential campaign for Herman Cain is coming to a close. The Georgia Republican and businessman announced Saturday that he is "suspending" his bid for the Oval Office.

Political experts had been forecasting the end of Cain's campaign for weeks, and his poll numbers had been slipping drastically. Just one month ago, a Des Moines Register poll showed he had 23 percent approval among Republican voters. That number sank to 8 percent in a new poll released Friday.

Candidate after candidate has been thrust in and out of the spotlight as the Republican party searches for an alternative to front-runner and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney: from U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann to Texas Gov. Rick Perry, to Cain and now former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

Cain's campaign made for one of the more interesting and dramatic storylines.

First, a sudden surge in popularity: Cain went from being a fringe candidate for the party's nomination to a serious contender in a matter of weeks in October.  He surged in the polls, but by the end of the month, a handful of allegations surfaced of sexual harassment while he was head of the National Restaurant Association in the '90s. Then, earlier this week, a Georgia woman claimed she and Cain had a 13-year affair.

Though he denied every allegation, he told his crowd of supporters that the "false and unproved accusations" had taken their toll on his political and personal lives.

"Now here's why it hurts — because my wife, my family and I, we know that those false and unproved allegations are not true," he said. "So one of the first declarations that I want to make to you today is that I am at peace with my God. I am at peace with my wife. And she is at peace with me."

Cain said he is switching to "Plan B" - a new website touting some of his platform, including the 9-9-9 tax plan, called thecainsolutions.com. He also said he will be endorsing one of his former rivals "in the near future."