MANCHESTER, N.H. — He’s plotting an aggressive campaign schedule across several states, but Herman Cain has begun to outline a possible exit strategy from the race for the Republican presidential nomination.

The former business executive, facing a woman’s allegation of a 13-year extramarital affair, says a heavy emotional toll on his family — particularly his wife, Gloria, who he has not seen since the charge surfaced — could force him to call it quits. The shift comes as a growing chorus of would-be allies suggests he is no longer a viable presidential contender, and Cain himself says fundraising has suffered.

Cain, a top-tier candidate just weeks ago, says he’ll decide in the next “few days” whether to abandon his White House bid, but not before he meets with his wife.

“Since I’ve been campaigning all week, I haven’t had an opportunity to sit down with her and walk through this with my wife and my family. I will do that when I get back home on Friday,” Cain told reporters gathered at his New Hampshire campaign headquarters Wednesday night. “I am not going to make a decision until after we talk face to face.”

Cain said he had spoken to his wife only by phone since Monday, the day an Atlanta television station reported the woman’s accusation. Since then, aides have crafted a packed campaign schedule with stops in Ohio, New Hampshire, Tennessee, South Carolina and Georgia and prepared to launch a fresh round of TV ads in Iowa.

Cain was to sit down Thursday afternoon with the New Hampshire Union Leader, an influential conservative voice in the first-in-the-nation primary state. This evening the former pizza executive is scheduled to deliver a business-focused speech at Middle Tennessee State University.