Cain is Finished, Perry is Done, Newt Gingrich to Make a Push

Rumors are pointing the finger that Rick Perry and his staff leaked a tip to Politico regarding Herman Cain and sexual assault allegations.

However, Rick Perry has vehemently denied those allegations. He said he will fire anyone he believes that leaked the story.

Out the door, said Perry in an interview with CNN's John King. I would say, listen, if you're passing on rumors that are that heinous, that bad you don't need to be working with me. Gone.

Still, Cain has accused Curt Anderson an aide to Perry as the source of the story. Anderson worked on Cain's 2004 Senate race.

This probably doesn't come as surprise to anyone, but Republicans are ruthlessly known for their dirty tricks during campaigns. However, if the Perry campaign did leak the information to the Politico, how much will it actually help him?

Former Godfather's Pizza CEO Herman Cain leads the Republican presidential primary field with 30 percent, followed by former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney with 23 percent, according to a press release issued by Quinnipiac University. Rick Perry is not even top three. He only received 8 percent of the votes.

However, this poll was taken before the Herman Cain scandal was leaked, therefore, things surely have changed.

Whether or not Herman Cain committed the alleged sexual harassment does not matter at this point. His poll numbers will slip. He had difficulty handling the situation and he was not prepared to answer the questions. Originally, many analysts believe that Herman Cain garnered votes from Rick Perry and that this will help Rick Perry return to the top.

However, Republican voters already know Rick Perry's views. His views on immigration and his executive order to force young girls to receive the HPV vaccine will not hold well when it comes to the elections. Rick Perry is most likely out of this race. Dirty tricks, smear campaigns and even a genuine push will not bring him back to the top of the pack.

Everyone is forgetting the dark horse in the race, Newt Gingrich.

From the start, Newt Gingrich had a rough campaign trail. Within the first few weeks, Gingrich's early advisors left the campaign. He sunk in the polls and was stuck with the bottom tier candidates. However, he is slowly moving up in the polls.

Newt Gingrich received 10 percent of the votes in the recent Quinnipiac poll, rounding out the top three. This is a phenomenal sign for his campaign. Now that Herman Cain has suffered what could be a fatal blow, more people will begin to pay attention to Gingrich.

Newt Gingrich is now seen as the underdog in the race. Rick Santorum, Michelle Bachman, and Ron Paul will soon be leaving the race. Their votes will be scattered to the top three contenders, with a majority going to Gingrich.

The Herman Cain defectors will now look for new candidate as well. While he certainly has had some notable quotes in the debates, Gingrich has not received the widespread attention that Rick Perry, Mitt Romney, and Herman Cain had. Still this is his chance to make a major push to the top.

With the near demise of Cain, the former Speaker of the House now has a chance to contend with Romney. Once primary season kicks off, it will be a close race between those two.

Gingrich will have to move his campaign into hyper drive in order to compete with Mitt Romney. Romney will still have the lead against the other candidates. However, for the most part, he has maintained his numbers. Romney has not made significant increases to his numbers.

This will put Gingrich in the perfect position to make a major battle to the top.