Herman Cain, the Republican presidential primary race’s dropout No. 3, added to the buzz about a proposal under review and ultimately abandoned by a conservative super PAC that would have used President Obama’s relationship with Rev. Jeremiah Wright to build opposition to him. Hours after his party’s nominee, Mitt Romney, rejected the idea of such a campaign, Cain said in a Fox News interview that the pastor is “fair game.”

“[I] think it is fair if someone wants to highlight the Rev. Jeremiah Wright and his relationship with Barack Obama because, quite frankly, it wasn’t highlighted enough in 2008 when he was running for president the first time,” Cain said.

When asked whether the proposed campaign, which also would have used African-American conservatives as spokespeople, was racist, Cain said Democrats “hide behind the race card” in response to any attacks on the president even “on grounds that he would freely and liberally attack somebody else.” Cain also said that given the many years that Obama attended Wright’s church when he lived in Chicago, he must have “assimilated” some of Wright’s views.

“So, no, it is not racist,” Cain said. “It’s just that the liberals want to play the race card when it is convenient.”

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(Photo: Allison Shelley/Getty Images)