Herman Cain Wins Florida GOP Straw Poll

By PATRICK O'CONNOR

Herman Cain, a former corporate executive, bested other Republican presidential candidates in a straw poll of Florida Republican activists Saturday, a blow to the once-surging campaign of Texas Gov. Rick Perry, which had lobbied hard for victory.

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Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain spoke Saturday in Orlando, Fla.

Mr. Perry was the only top-tier candidate to declare himself all-in for the straw poll, organized by the Republican Party of Florida and held in Orlando. His supporters had targeted the 3,500 delegates, and Mr. Perry himself had poked some other candidates for side-stepping the event.

But Mr. Cain won the poll with 37% of the 2,657 votes cast. Mr. Perry finished a distant second, with just over 15%.

Mitt Romney, who has been dueling with Mr. Perry for the status of front-runner in national opinion surveys, placed a close third in the Florida poll, with 14%. Mr. Romney is building a presence in Florida, but he had said he would not actively campaign in any straw poll.

The Florida activists showed little enthusiasm for Rep. Michele Bachmann, who carried only 1.5% of the vote. Ms. Bachmann had won a straw poll last month in Iowa, where the participants were thought to include a large number of evangelical Christian conservatives.

Mr. Perry's second-place finish caps a difficult stretch for the Texas governor after he stumbled repeatedly in a Thursday night debate, also held in Orlando. In interviews, many Florida Republicans said they had attended the debate expecting to back the Texas governor in the straw poll. But they reconsidered after his poor showing.

"I planned to support Rick Perry, but I was a little disappointed with his performance," said Fred Scheibl, a delegate who helped former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani in 2008.

In the debate, Mr. Perry struggled to parry his rivals' attacks and was repeatedly rebuffed by his top rival, Mr. Romney, a former governor of Massachusetts.

Mr. Perry also angered some conservatives by standing by a Texas law he had signed making illegal immigrants eligible for in-state university tuition. At one point in the debate, Mr. Perry suggested that opponents of the law don't "have a heart" -- a line Mr. Romney quickly embraced in his own attacks against the Texas governor.

"We were all looking at Perry as our knight in shining armor, but we're finding out he has some baggage," said Joyce Estes, a delegate from Apalachicola, before the voting. "The question is how much baggage we can accept."

With polls showing the race a two-man contest between Messrs. Perry and Romney, the win catapults Mr. Cain back into the presidential picture after his own bid languished during the summer.

Afterward, Mr. Cain hailed the win as "a sign of our growing momentum and my candidacy that cannot be ignored."

Mr. Perry came into the event with all the momentum. A Quinnipiac University poll released earlier this week gave Mr. Perry a nine-point edge over Mr. Romney among Florida Republicans, 31% to 22%.

In other results from the Florida straw poll, Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum placed fourth, with nearly 11%.

Texas Rep. Ron Paul won just over 10%, and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich won just over 8%.

Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman won just over 2%, ahead of Mrs. Bachmann.