Posted on 09/24/2011 5:24:39 PM PDT by iowamark
From the bottom of the polls to the top of the pack, businessman Herman Cain won the Republican Party of Florida’s nationally watched presidential straw poll Saturday in a sign that frontrunner Rick Perry is in deep trouble.
Cain’s victory with 37 percent of the vote was a major defeat for Perry, the frontrunner in Florida and national polls, who garnered only 15 percent after wooing the nearly 3,000 party faithful with a free breakfast and mailers.
The vote also showed how soft Republican support is for Mitt Romney, who came in third with 14 percent. Unlike Perry, though, he avoided schmoozing the GOP voters, called delegates.
"Folks, this is what you call momentum," Cain, the former CEO of Godfather’s Pizza, said in a video message from his campaign bus. "The Herman Cain train is picking up steam."
That means more national media attention, heightened standing in the race and access to more fundraisers.
The straw poll is a mock election and doesn’t necessarily reflect the sentiment of the voters at large. In past years, it has predicted the party’s national nominee, but that streak could be in jeopardy because even some Cain voters had doubts about whether he was ready to be the party’s nominee.
Still, the vote is a major indication of how badly damaged Perry was by a poor debate performance Thursday when he fumbled answers and failed to give specifics.
Many straw poll voters were especially dissatisfied by the answers Perry gave over his moderate immigration position, the “Ponzi scheme” of Social Security and his plan to inoculate girls from human papillomavirus.
“I came in thinking Rick Perry,” said Tommy Langford,a Gilchrist County commissioner who voted for Cain. “I didn’t like the debate at all. I really thought Perry lost it. Mitt Romney called him on immigration. He said we have to take care of them. Not if they’re illegal, we don’t.”
Another big loser: Michele Bachmann, who came in last place. Once a top-tier candidate who won the Iowa straw poll, she has fallen from sight in the debates where she, too, fails to give specifics, excite delegates here or even reach out to them.
Perry issued a written statement congratulating Cain, saying the vote underscored the fact that the conservative message of job creation, fiscal responsibility and limited government is gaining momentum.
“Floridians and voters nationally want a candidate who is clear on the issues and talks honestly about the future,” Perry said, “not someone who takes multiple sides of an issue and changes views every election season. Today’s vote demonstrates that Floridians are energized and ready to help get America working again.”
Pinellas County delegate Rachelle Warmouth said that, if Perry lost, it wouldn’t be the end of his campaign. But when or lose, the debate performance and the effect it’s having on party loyalists are a call to step up his game.
“He’ll have to have a strong recovery,” she said. “He needs to focus on his message.”
Warmouth’s friend, Eileen Blackmer, agreed: “He needs to work on the three C’s: Be clear, be concise, be complete.”
Lee County delegate Dane Eagle said he’s for Romney. He likes the candidate’s message and polish on stage. And he fears that President Obama would walk all over Perry in debates.
“That’s what Obama does,” Eagle said. “He debates.”
St. Johns County delegate Randy Covington said he arrived in Orlando ready to vote for Perry, but the debate "shattered" that plan. Covington decided to support Cain after the businessman"s rousing speech on Saturday at the Conservative Political Action Conference. That event was wedged in between the party’s Presidency 5 Thursday debate and Saturday straw poll.
But Convington said he wasn’t sure if Cain would or should be the nominee. He said the primary shouldn’t be a two-man race.
"We need this process to go on," Covington said.
Gov. Rick Scott, who announced the results from the Orange County Convention Center stage, said the candidates “need to take very seriously whatever the results are.”
"It shows you something. Florida is important," Scott said from the Orange County Convention Center stage. "It pays to be here."
you say turn off the spigot but then he gives them in state tuition.
That is keeping the spigot open and saying no problem come here and you can go to school.
No kidding, wonder what happened to the usual paul gang up at the straw poll? That’s real curious.
I'm old enough to remember; your analysis is wrong. People like Robert Byrd, Scoop Jackson, and George Wallace all ran in the 1976 Democratic primary. If you go back and look at the actual candidate list, there were plenty of Democrats running who where not considered liberal at the time.
Carter was running in the wake of the Watergate scandal and Vietnam war as well in the middle of major recession. The feeling in the country was that Washington and professional politicians had screwed up and could not be trusted. The public was looking for someone from outside Washington that came across as a non-politician.
And that is exactly how Carter portrayed himself. He downplayed his political experience as governor, and focused on things like being a peanut farmer from a small town who played softball and was a born-again Christian. The ultimate Washington outsider.
In that regard, the 1976 election and the 2012 election have a lot in common, as the public seems to be looking for the same thing in a candidate.
I can see why you avoid quoting my post like the plague. What I actually said in no way matches what you’re accusing me of.
No, I actually like Bachmann, just not for POTUS.
Her brashness serves us well in Congress, her impulsiveness could get us killed as POTUS.
She damn near pulled the same fake statement in the debate. Maybe that’s why she is pushing up carpet now.
I think some Texans have lost the meaning of conservative somewhere along the line.
While certainly not a liberal, Perry is an establishment republican who is beholden to the dangerous and sometimes sinister corporate world.
Thanks for the lowdown on Cain. Very impressive, just wish he had an election in his resume.
Thanks for the lowdown on Cain. Very impressive, just wish he had an election in his resume.
I dunno, seems to me that no Moose terrorist would want to mess around with this “madwoman.” Not if said terrorist didn’t want half of Islamic Arabdom to be glassed over in the next 24 hours. She is very clearly jealous for the freedom of her godchildren, America.
Passing on FL is really a big deal. Why let this one go by the wayside and focus on NH, which is a loser for predicting GOP nominees or even being a GOP state anymore. It is a purple state if there ever was one. Open primaries? Bleh.
Written by Freeper Logic N reason.. I hope that he is right:
Mrs. Palin is remaining quiet....she is waiting....she knows her battle plan....she knows her timing.....she is learning....studying the opposition....guarding the “cubs”....waiting quietly with an occasional “roar” (like the comments at the Iowa State Fair).....reconnoitering the challengers from within and the enemY from without.....studying weaknesses....building and conserving her strength....endlessly practicing....reading...honing her skills.....waiting.....waiting.....
This war has not yet begun. What has been seen of the other candidates to date has been nothing but minor and irrelevant skirmishing. Candidates in...candidates out....candidates winning....candidates losing.....candidates saying silly things.....candidates saying cogent, insightful things....
It is a very very long way to next November. There is no need to rush. In her mind’s eye, Mrs. Palin smiles knowingly and remembers the words of Napolean, “Never interupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.” and General Patton, “Our basic plan of operation is to advance and to keep on advancing regardless of whether we have to go over, under, or through the enemy. We are going to go through him like crap through a goose; like shit through a tin horn!”
When she arrives, you can count on total war. She has learned how to fight. She does not spin; she does not back away from principles; she means exactly what she says...and says exactly what she means. She builds a base of support because of who and what she is....not because of who or what she panders to.
Patience.....patience....
Wait for it!
And keep the faith....
posted on Thursday, August 25, 2011 8:33:49 AM by Logic n’ Reason
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2768701/posts?page=41#41
I feel the same way. Sarah and Cain are the only ones that give me that Reagan “fuzzy feeling”.
Democratic candidates
Jimmy Carter, former governor of Georgia
Jerry Brown, governor of California
George Wallace, governor of Alabama
Morris Udall, U.S. representative from Arizona
Henry M. Jackson, U.S. senator from Washington
Frank Church, U.S. senator from Idaho
Robert Byrd, U.S. senator from West Virginia
Sargent Shriver, former U.S. ambassador to France from Maryland
Fred R. Harris, former U.S. senator from Oklahoma
Birch Bayh, U.S. senator from Indiana
Lloyd Bentsen, U.S. senator from Texas
Terry Sanford, former governor of North Carolina
Milton Shapp, governor of Pennsylvania
I was 16 at the time but already following the grand game of politics. As I remember it, The press (the big 3 was all we had back then) had already wrote off the more “Conservative” candidate's. I also thing ole Teddy was expected to get in the race at any time.
I disagree with you, but many things were done in “smokey rooms” in those days. Whats more I was only 16. I still believe Carter slipped in as a unknown candidate that did not have the negatives of the others. In any case, we all know the results.
I only bring it up as a example of how a unknown candidate can sometimes have a edge that the “established” candidates lack. Mr Cain might well benefit from this and I hope he does.
He passed on Iowa too. According to his camp, no straw polls at all this time around. Bad game plan, I agree.
why not? You do realize that all of those people that pay NO income taxes would then be contributors. I’m tired of carrying all the load while they get off scott free.
In-State tutition is for ANY Texas HS grad. It has been the law for a long time. The Texas legislature voted 100 to 4 to include kids of illegals, who have minimum 3 years good grades in a TEXAS HS, have personally applied for US Citizenship.
The reason for any In-State Tuition for any Texas student is because of the Texas Sales Taxes and Local Property taxes paid by eveyone in Texas, here illegally or legally. The “have a heart” was lame, but has some relivance because the students in question did not come here on their own, so why should they be made to suffer because their parents did wrong. See the point?
Numbnuts Santorim kept harping on “what about the discount for other non-Texas student before illegals”, the idiot was just being disrupting thinking he was makinhg VP points with Mutt.
“Do you often lie, or are you just lousy at simple math? “
you can’t make a math mistake when dealing with Cain!
Now she looks like First Lady that we could be proud of instead of that vacationaholic, shopaholic, trashy big arsed manbeast that is in there now... the Bog Wookie.
Between Dallas & Waco.....
Great one line analysis.
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