They may be unwilling to provide details of their allegations against Herman Cain, or even disclose whether their source is a political opponent, but hey — have you seen the mentions they’re getting on Twitter? From MSNBC this morning:

JOE SCARBOROUGH: Mike Allen, you had Cain defenders yesterday seizing upon a line that Politico wrote about gestures made by Cain toward these women that were, quote, non-sexual in nature. Just to confirm you have evidence as well of sexually inappropriate behavior?

MIKE ALLEN: What the women said was that he said things that made people feel uncomfortable in that way. This story clearly resonated with people. There’s an estimate out there that this is the biggest single Twitter controversy of the campaign. 48,000 mentions of Herman Cain on Twitter yesterday. That’s more than the mention of any Republican candidate ever.

Allen is a reporter for Politico. And while he may not be able to do fancy stuff like “give details” or “provide the whole story”, he certainly can track how much attention his friends are getting on Twitter. And he’s gosh-darn excited that his outlet’s story is breaking records for smearing Republicans online.

Allen took the Jonathan Martin route here: Make the allegation of wrongdoing but refuse to provide even a single detail. You’re just supposed to believe him because he’s Mike Allen of Politico — a certified reporter. And reporters wouldn’t lie to you just to hurt Republicans, right? Of course not. They have the legacy of Dan Rather to live up to. Oh, wait, bad example…