Accusations are mounting against Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain. In a press conference on Monday, a woman from Chicago, Sharon Bialek, openly accused Cain of groping her inappropriately when she was seeking a job over a decade ago. She is the first to publicly accuse Mr. Cain. Bialek was accompanied by superstar lawyer Gloria Allred. The Cain campaign issued a statement moments after the news conference started saying, "Activist celebrity lawyer Gloria Allred is bringing forth more false accusations against the character of Republican front-runner Herman Cain."

Herman Cain's sexual harassment woes. Greece's unstable government buckling under pressure from its debt crisis. The renewed focus on the striking disparity between rich and poor in America. And, well, Kim Kardashian's divorce. These were, for better or worse, the stories that dominated the headlines for the last week. The Takeaway has assembled a panel of analysts to rundown, dissect, and wrap-up all the major stories of the week.

Is America ready for the first black Republican president? That's a question being asked following the surge in popularity of GOP candidate Herman Cain. A new NBC/Wall Street Journal poll has Cain beating Mitt Romney with 27 percent to Romney's 21 in the Republican primary. Cain refuses to believe he is the latest GOP "flavor of the week" and has not shied away from talking about race during the campaign.

Over the weekend, a front-page article in The Washington Post criticized Texas governor and Republican presidential hopeful Rick Perry, whose family's hunting lodge was formerly known by a racially charged epithet. Other GOP candidates have already been vocal in criticizing Perry. Herman Cain told Fox News on Sunday, "I think it shows a lack of sensitivity."

President Obama's approval ratings are at an all-time low. August's Gallup poll numbers showed that 41 percent of American adults approve of the way Obama is currently handling his job. Some of the largest declines in approval come from African-American voters — a group that formerly voted for Obama.

Now that the election is over, Joe Klein, TIME political columnist, Andrea Bernstein, WNYC reporter and director of the Transportation Nation blog, and Farai Chideya, host of Pop + Politics reflect on their political road trips around the country.

Joe Klein, political columnist for TIME Magazine, Transportation Nation's Andrea Bernstein, and Pop + Politics host Farai Chideya, reflect on their individual road trips around the US, talking to politicians and voters about the upcoming election season

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif), is pulling no punches in her campaign against former HP CEO Carly Fiorina in California, and she's raising a now-familiar bogeyman: China. One of her recent ads tied Fiorina to her decision to outsource thousands of American jobs to China.  Boxer is not the only candidate doing this. Many politicians across the country are using China as a political scapegoat in their bid to win.

Traveling through America, I cannot help but look at America in military metaphors, as a soldier who has served a tour of duty and cannot help but wonder if rotations to the field will continue indefinitely. The battles are economic, on one level. Jobs and the economy remain the top issues. Neighborhoods rocked by foreclosures are sometimes finding a new equilibrium - even if that equilibrium means learning to live with one or two abandoned houses on a once-full block. America has survived the dizzying economic crash of 2008, but we remain ready to fight for an American Dream that sometimes we can't even define.

WNYC partner Pop + Politics just returned from a road trip to Florida, where host Farai Chideya interviewed retired Lieutenant Colonel Allen West, a Tea Party Republican who is challenging Rep. Ron Klein (D-FL) for Florida's 22nd Congressional seat in Broward and Palm Beach counties.

WNYC partner Pop + Politics just got back from a road trip to Florida, where host Farai Chideya met up with Rep. Kendrick Meek. He's gunning for the open Senate seat in Florida, in the three-way race with Republican Marco Rubio and Florida Governor Charlie Crist, who's running as an Independent. Meek currently represents Florida's 17th District, which includes North Miami and Miami Beach. When P+P caught up with him, he'd just returned from a fundraising event with former President Bill Clinton, one of his long-time supporters.

Our political coverage of the midterms turns to Florida. The Sunshine State has been in the international limelight for weeks, following Pastor Terry Jones’ threats to publicly burn Korans. With the bonfire cancelled and the 9/11 anniversary past, we talk this morning about a state full of voters whose opinions range the gamut on the Koran burning issue and the three-way race for U.S. Senate that’s been heating up for months. 

WNYC partner Pop + Politics is on the road this week in Florida, where an interesting gubernatorial contest is shaping up. Florida's current governor, Charlie Crist, is running for reelection, but not as a Republican. Pop + Politics' Farai Chideya spoke with Crist on Tuesday.

Across the country, there are only nine political primaries left this season, and the race for November’s midterm elections is coming into full swing. 

When you see a favorite local retailer close down, you often wonder what might have happened if you'd stepped in to help drive business. A group of retailers in Harlem are trying a new way to stay afloat in the face of the bad economy. In the latest episode of "The Value," Farai Chideya reports on an initiative called The Power of One.

For our series, "The Value," Takeaway correspondent Farai Chideya traveled to the Bay Area for a lesson on how to live on the  cheap in one of the country's most costly neighborhoods. A family in Saulsalito, California manages to cut costs by living on their boat. By avoiding expenses like the cost of a car and gas, the family is able to sail around the world and return home with adventurous stories to tell.