Another woman accuses Cain of sexual advance

NEW YORK - Leaving little to the imagination, a Chicago-area woman on Monday accused Republican presidential hopeful Herman Cain of making a crude sexual advance more than a decade ago when she was seeking his help finding a job.

"Come clean," Sharon Bialek challenged Cain at a news conference in New York at which she described herself as "a face and a voice" to support other accusers who have so far remained anonymous.

Cain's campaign swiftly denied Bialek's account. "All allegations of harassment against Mr. Cain are completely false," it said in a written statement.

Even so, Bialek's nationally broadcast appearance on cable television marked a new and - for Cain - dangerous turn in a controversy that he has struggled for more than a week to shed. An upstart in the presidential race, Cain shot to the top of public opinion polls in recent weeks and emerged, however temporarily, as the main conservative challenger to Mitt Romney.

Greece to receive next bailout ... if leaders commit

BRUSSELS - Greece can get a crucial $11 billion slice of bailout money this month if the leaders of the two main parties both commit in writing to the terms of the country's two massive bailouts and the austerity measures and economic reforms that they require, eurozone finance chiefs said Monday.

That payment, which has been delayed by two months, would head off a potentially disastrous default as early as December.

Jean-Claude Juncker, the Luxembourg prime minister who also chairs the eurozone finance ministers meetings, said that ministers at their get-together in Brussels asked for a letter co-signed by the two party leaders that they will implement that program.

Such cross-party commitment is important as Greece gears up for new elections early next year.

"It is essential that the entire political class is now restoring the confidence that had been lost into the Greek commitment to the EU/IMF program and to the agreement of the 27th of October," said European Union Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn. He was referring to an agreement drawn up at a summit of European leaders last month in cooperation with the International Monetary Fund.

Today's elections to test nation's political mood

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Votes on immigration, union rights and President Obama's health care law could hold hints of the American public's mindset, four years into an economic downturn and one year from the presidential election.

Tuesday's elections also include governors' races in Mississippi and Kentucky that will point to political prospects for 2012, when an additional 10 governorships will be contested. In both states, the governors' offices are expected to stay in the hands of incumbent parties, perhaps indicating that voters aren't ready to abandon their loyalties.

But regardless of the ballot questions and key political races, most experts agree the most important factor in 2012 remains the stubbornly weak economy.

"If the economy were to turn around in the next year, that's going to matter a lot more than what happens in ballot issues," said political analyst Justin Buchler.

Lawmakers have tried to tie other issues, such as public employees' union rights, to their states' economic struggles.

Economic aid bill clears hurdle in Senate

WASHINGTON - The Senate voted overwhelmingly Monday to temporarily set aside its partisan standoff over President Barack Obama's jobs plan and move toward giving a modest economic spark to two potent interest groups: veterans and businesses.

In a 94-1 roll call, senators voted to start debating a measure repealing a requirement that federal, state and many local governments withhold 3 percent of their payments to contractors. That bill has been lobbied by a wide swath of industry groups large and small and has no significant opposition.

By the time the Senate approves the legislation - perhaps later this week - Democrats planned to add language backed by both parties offering tax breaks to companies that hire veterans and providing vets with employment counseling and other job-hunting services.

Monday's one-sided vote signaled that barring an unexpected twist, the Senate was likely to send the overall measure to the House, which returns from a recess next week.

The tax credits - up to $9,600 for companies hiring disabled veterans who have been jobless at least six months - would represent the first, though tiny, piece of Obama's $447 billion jobs proposal to be approved by Congress, assuming Senate and then House passage.

- The Associated Press