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Cain wins P5 straw poll

Posted Sep 24, 2011 by William March

Updated Sep 24, 2011 at 06:32 PM

In an outcome that left some Republicans flabbergasted, Herman Cain won the state Republican Party’s Presidency 5 straw poll today.

Cain got 37 percent of the votes of the party activists assembled for state party’s convention and straw poll in Orlando, while presumed frontrunner Rick Perry got 15 percent and Mitt Romney, expected to be Perry’s strongest challenger, got 14 percent.

Party officials were left pondering what the results mean.

Most noted that Romney, even though he came to Orlando for the convention and associated events, declared he wasn’t participating in the straw poll and didn’t make attempts to woo the delegates.

Perry devoted intense effort to courting the delegates, but probably suffered from a poor performance in the Fox News debate Thursday night that started off the weekend of GOP events, and left Orlando today, after holding a breakfast for Presidency 5 delegates, to attend a straw poll in Michigan.

“It proves one of the most basic rules of politics—the guy who shows up and works hard wins,” said party spokesman Brian Hughes.

Asked about previous statements by Gov. Rick Scott and state GOP leaders that the winner of the straw poll likely would win the state primary and the GOP nomination, Hughes said, “We might just have seen the ultimate twist in this campaign cycle.”

“People better start listening—he’s got a simple, clear message,” said Paul Senft of Haines City, one of Florida’s delegates to the Republican National Committee. 

He said some delegates “took it as a personal affront” that candidates didn’t stay at the convention for today’s straw poll.

Asked whether he thinks Cain could end up winning the Florida primary or the nomination, he said, “After this performance, I think he’s got a good shot.”