The Hill News

Herman Cain plans to sit down with Tea Party favorite Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) Wednesday night.

The meeting was scheduled before allegations arose that Cain had sexually harassed two women while president of the National Restaurant Association. A DeMint aide said the senator still plans to meet with Cain Wednesday.

Cain's meeting comes a day after he met with South Carolina's other Republican senator, Lindsey Graham.

DeMint's meeting with Cain is a continuation of sit-downs with Republican presidential candidates. DeMint also recently met with Rick Perry.

Cain has praised DeMint as a legislator who is not "afraid to challenge the system" and mentioned the South Carolina senator as a potential running mate if Cain wins the nomination.

Cain's meeting with DeMint comes as he denies allegations of sexually inappropriate behavior with the two former restaurant association staffers. The report does not seem to have dam! aged Cain in the polls though. A Quinnipiac poll released Wednesday found that Cain leads Mitt Romney 47 percent to 39 percent in a head-to-head matchup and is the front-runner in the Republican presidential field. The poll found that Cain has the support of 30 percent of Republican voters, followed by Romney with 23 percent and Newt Gingrich with 10 percent.

The polling occurred mostly before the allegations against Cain surfaced.