Relatives of raccoons?

Perhaps the rings on the tabby-striped Maine Coon's tail encouraged the theory that the Maine Coon resulted from a cat breeding with a raccoon. After all, many Maine Coons are known to enjoy washing their front paws in the water bowl, a behavior that reminds us of the way raccoons sometimes douse their food in water before eating it. However, scientists tell us that such breeding was genetically impossible.

Could the Maine Coon be related to the wild cats that inhabited this continent hundreds of years ago?