As Herman Cain continues to deal with the fallout of a sexual harassment scandal dating back to his days as a restaurant industry lobbyist in the 1990s, the GOP Presidential contender has seen his support on social media continue to grow and grow --- and in the case of Facebook, accelerate.

Since the story broke on Politico on Oct. 30, Cain has added over 12,000 new Facebook fans on his official page. In fact, the last few days have seen Cain's most significant growth spurt on Facebook in the last several months. The 8,600+ fans he added on Nov. 1 alone are over 1,000 more than he added on any single day since early July. In addition, Cain has also picked up over 6,000 new followers on Twitter since the weekend.

According to OhMyGov Media Monitoring, Cain still trails Mitt Romney by a sizable margin in overall Facebook popularity, the fact Cain continues to add fans at faster-than-normal pace during the biggest negative story of his campaign so far is a sign that he might endure and keep the pressure on Romney.

Some of Cain's new social media followers may not be fans of his politics or likely supporters at the ballot box, of course, but rather people curious how the story will play out. Those curiosity seekers saw Cain issue the following message on both his Facebook and Twitter pages: "Sadly, we've seen this movie played out before - a prominent Conservative targeted by liberals simply because they disagree with his politics. Mr. Cain and all Americans deserve better."

Cain continues to hold a 2-point lead in the national polls over Mitt Romney, according to the latest Real Clear Politics national polling average. On Oct. 29, the day before the Politico report, he was polling at an average of 25 points nationally. On Nov. 2, that number has inched up to 26 points. For those in the GOP primary field hoping that this story would be what burst the Cain bubble (we're looking at you Gov. Perry), not so fast.

Of course, Cain's support may dip in coming days if additional, damaging details of this story were to emerge. But as of today, by the numbers the first major scandal of the Cain campaign has helped more than hurt him. 

And if you happen to be one of those political observers unmoved by internet buzz or polls taken more than a year before election day, consider this: according to the Cain campaign, the candidate experienced his best single fund raising day ever on Oct. 31, the day after the scandal broke. Call it "rallying the base" or "circling the wagons," just make sure to call it $400,000 in new donations over a 24 hour period.

OhMyGov will continue to monitor the story and surging Cain campaign. The big question remains: is Cain more than the latest GOP "flavor of the month," and if not, when will he hit his expiration date?