The ruling Saenuri Party’s cash-for-nomination scandal is giving breathing room to professor Ahn Cheol-soo amid a barrage of political attacks on his past remarks and actions.

The left-wing’s leading presidential hopeful upped his polls last month by publishing his book and appearing on a popular television talk show, though he still refrained from officially confirming his bid.

Ahn, however, soon faced the ruling camp’s counterattacks for signing a petition back in 2003 to reduce the jail sentence given to SK Group chairman Chey Tae-won for embezzlement.

He was also grilled over his activities in the so-called “V-society,” a social group of venture businessmen and junior conglomerate members.

Rep. Park Geun-hye, Ahn’s greatest rival and the right-wing party’s top contestant, seized the chance to grab the upper hand in the upcoming race.

“This (kind of defense for conglomerates’ illegal activities) is exactly what we are trying to fix,” Park told reporters last week, breaking her former well-disposed yet vague comments on the professor.

Ahn soon confessed that he regrets his past action but nevertheless lost face as a potential candidate for his inconsistency.

The Saenuri camp, however, brushed all of its anti-Ahn campaigns aside amid the allegations that one of its proportional representative offered cash to a former party lawmaker in exchange for candidacy in the April general elections.

The main opposition Democratic United Party, too, is currently in no position to play political games with Ahn as it was recently preoccupied with the prosecution’s probe over its floor leader Rep. Park Jie-won on bribery charges.

Though Ahn’s spokesperson Yoo Min-young shrugged off the political offensives, the professor is expected to ready himself for the upcoming battle while leading parties deal with their crisis.

By Bae Hyun-jung (tellme@heraldcorp.com)