Florida Straw Poll

The straw poll this weekend in Florida was definitely not boring. They demonstrated once again what an unpredictable and important political battleground it is. This is one state that definitely matters.

Republican Presidential candidate, Herman Cain, received 37 percent of the more than 2,600 votes cast, making him the winner of the Florida straw poll, defeating second-placer Rick Perry. Cain more than doubled Perry’s total (the GOP presidential frontrunner) as well as Mitt Romney, who came in a close third. Senator Rick Santorum finished with 11 percent, Ron Paul finished with 10.5 percent, Newt Gingrich finished with 8.5 percent, the former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman finished with 2 percent, and Michele Bachmann finished off last with a mere 1 percent. Cain had been on the right track with Florida. He had the victory with his exciting speech on Friday afternoon where he received a standing ovation from the crowd. While thanking the Republican voters, Cain said, “This is a sign of our growing momentum and my candidacy that cannot be ignored. I will continue to share my message of ‘common-sense solutions’ across this country and look forward to spending more time in Florida, a critical state for both the nomination and the general election.” While Cain thought Florida to be a critical state for the election, people questioned Perry for skipping the straw poll. Perry even felt this was a slip-up saying, "I think that's a big mistake. I think it's very important." He had stayed through Saturday morning where he hosted the breakfast for conference delegates. This was a good move for he had been receiving much criticism from the Thursday night debate. In the past straw polls have predicted the GOP nominee. Ronald Reagan won in 1979, George H.W. Bush in 1987 and Senator Bob Dole in 1995.

The former Governor of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney is another candidate who may not have paid as much attention to Florida as he should have. All of the candidates spoke to a crowd of Floridian Republicans who had met up there for the Faith and Freedom Coalition and Conservative Political Action Conference meetings. However, Romney left Florida early Friday for events in Indiana and Michigan. This was essentially saying that his campaign did not place that much weight on the result in Florida. Perry actually took a hit at Romney after congratulating Cain. “Floridians and voters nationally want a candidate who is clear on the issues and talks honestly about the future, not someone who takes multiple sides of an issue and changes views every election season,” said Perry. He then continued saying,  “today’s vote demonstrates that Floridians are energized and ready to help get America working again.”

            It’s obvious Cain impressed the voters at the straw poll but it is not as obvious to me whether he will win the GOP nomination. However, this weekend has seemed to make Michele Bachmann irrelevant with her last place status in the poll. Republicans are definitely pumped after this weekend though. It’s unclear to me who will make the GOP nomination but republicans are definitely ready for Obama to leave office.