Herman Cain wins the Florida straw poll!
In a shocking development, Herman Cain won the Florida straw poll just two days after the latest GOP debate. What might be even more shocking than the victory itself is the margin by which he won the poll. Herman Cain received 37% of the vote while Rick Perry and Mitt Romney ended in a virtual dead heat at 15% and 14% respectively.
I have been less than enamored with the candidates that the media dubbed the GOP frontrunners and have been giving a close look to the “second tier”candidates from the outset, but then along came Rick Perry to shake up the race and my focus shifted toward him and away from the “second tier” candidates as I knew little about him and had hoped that he would be the GOP savior.
I honestly wanted to be able to vote for Rick Perry but I still cannot get beyond his defense of the Texas DREAM Act and his claim that if you oppose the Texas DREAM Act it means that you are heartless. This all but ended any consideration I had for him as my candidate–as well as many others who had hoped Perry would fill the void–and while I do not support Mitt Romney I thought that the last debate would propel him back into the lead in the GOP field.
It appears as if Mitt Romney–for justifiable reasons–simply is not able to endear himself to the Republican base and I think that the Florida straw poll shows us that . The Republican primary voters are not going to allow the media to dictate to us who the nominee should be and thusly are looking at the candidates which the media tell us have no shot at the nomination.
I happen to be a fan of Herman Cain and Rick Santorum and I will most likely cast my primary vote for one of the two and it is refreshing to see a lesser known like Herman Cain gain some traction.
Will Herman Cain win the nomination? It is highly unlikely, but I think this serves as notice to those who are considered to be frontrunners that the American people are sick and tired of Washington politics and are willing to look outside the box. The GOP race has just become a little more interesting, hasn’t it?
America's Watchtower 
I like the fact that Herman Cain won the straw poll. My favorite is still Rick Santorum, Cain and Bachmann are tied for second and Newt is in third place for me.
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This certainly shakes thing up a bit and I also love Santorum.
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My only problem with Cain is that from what I can tell he loved the idea of TARP. In an interview back in June he said, “I thought TARP was going to be an opportunity for the government to allow any bank that needed to to restructure its balance sheet,” Cain said. “But it didn’t. It only picked its friends. That’s when I turned against TARP.”
That tells me that if something like this were to happen again he would support big government intervention. I hated the concept of TARP from the beginning. Other than that Herman says all the right things regarding creating jobs, just like all the rest. While I like him I can’t help but compare him to Perot. The idea of a business man with no public experience sounds good, but will it translate successfully in a public setting. Only Romney has that experience and we see how he went in MA. In the end I’ll take any of them over Obama.
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A good analysis in my opinion. I also was against TARP from the beginning and I do have issues with Cain, TARP and his closeness with the fed. It seems as of we will have to decide whose past transgressions we are most able to live with.
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This is good news. The more I hear about Rick Perry, the less I like him. Nice going Herman. The media had you written off.
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I am with you; I really wanted to give Perry a chance but the more I hear him the less I like him. I love the fact that it appears as if the Republicans are not going to let the media decide who are candidate should be.
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I know he is not even on the radar, but maybe you could take a look at Buddy Roemer, a former Reagan Dem. His core issues are fair trade and campaign finance, which address the economy and the DC corruption, our two biggest problems. Check him out if you haven’t already.
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I actually have heard Roemer on a couple of local talk shows, he may be a little “out there” but he is certainly interesting.
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I love it ! i watched the debates on Fox News Live web site. Three talking head “pundits” afterward were foaming at the mouth over Romney. This gives me hope that the voters are judging for themselves. Thanks for this good news, Steve.
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I think the people are realizing that the media is pushing certain candidate because they feel they are less offensive to them in the event that Obama loses and are not going to fall into the same trap they did in 2008.
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BTW, I did a post on Herman Cain a couple of weeks ago when he announced his 9-9-9 plan. That post is still getting 20 to 30 hits a day, which for my little blog is a lot. I think it points to the interest he is generating.
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I remember that post and I think you are right that this shows people are looking at onther candidates besides the two front runners.
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A problem with Cain, and a lot of Republicans, is that they still believe the “free trade” mantra of GATT and NAFTA and all the other agreements that really are “fixed” trade, not free trade. That is why I like Roemer – he is the only one addressing China, the trade deficit, and jobs lost to offshoring (kind of like Trump did, and Pat Buchanan). I think trade policy is just as important as tax policy – no use having our multinational companies create a ton of jobs if they’re all in China instead of here!
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I will have to take a look ar Roemer because I don’t know much about him. I did hear him on the radio a couple of times but I am going to have to dig a little deeper.
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This is definitely a great sign Steve. You already know how I feel about the media picking our candidates. I wouldn’t count anyone out because the base is energized and they’re looking for the most conservative candidate. I can get past the TARP issue with Cain because at the time we were entering uncharted waters and a number of respected economist believed it was the solution. We now know differently. I can’t get past RomneyCare or Perry’s Texas version of the DREAM Act. These two programs are radical departures from conservatism. This is why I’m not wasting my time anymore with Romney or Perry. Looking hard at the second tier candidate. I would love to see a Marco Rubio enter the race.
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It is a good sign John because it shows us that the media isn’t going to be able to chose our candidate for us without people looking long and hard at the others. Like you I can’t get past Romney or Perry’s issues and I can’t vote for either. Right now I really like Rick Santorum, but I would love to see Rubio or Allen West jump into the race. However I don’t think either will–they could become a VP selection though.
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I think what this shows is major dissatisfaction w/Perry and Romney and why people still talk about Christie
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Exactly Harrison, this probably says more about Perry and Romney than it does about Cain.
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This should shake them up, to say the least. Personally, I would have liked to see Rick Santorum do better. I really like him, but he consistently polls very low in the pack.
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Right now Rick Santorum is my guy, I really like him and it would have been great to see him do better in Florida. I hope he hangs in there until a couple of others drop out so that maybe he will get a little more coverage.
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Given his performance in the debates and his position on the issues, it’s hard to figure out why he polls so low. Name recognition maybe?
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He hasn’t gotten much airtime in the debates; is that because he isn’t doing well in the polls, or is the reason why he isn’t doing well in the polls because he isn’t getting much airtime? I think that he has a true consrvative message and people would like him if they give him a chance.
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I am happy to see Cain won the SP.
It shows the other candidates they are not going to win a nomination because they are the “next in line” according to the establishment Republicans.
Romney care is an issue just as the Dream act is for Perry.
I suppose being chairmen of the Fed doesn’t help Cain.
There are good explanations for all their mistakes.
What I like about Cain is he takes away one of the lefts weapons…Race.
It gets down to policy between Cain and Obama not race. Race will be played against any other candidate. Im sure they will throw Uncle Tom at Cain too but I doubt that will stick
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Rick, I also believe that the candidate is already picked by the “powers that be”. We got McCain that way, didn’t we? I didn’t know many people that wanted him for the Republican nominee, but that is who we got. I have a feeling that we are being manipulated. Anyone else feel that way? We know what happens when we have a career politician, more of the same. I agree that with Cain, we have taken the race card out, but they always find a way to attack any black conservative.
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I feel that way as well. The media is trying to manipulate us–the thrust McCain on us and they are attempting to thrust either Romney or Perry on us because they feel they are the least offensive Republicans who could be elected in the event that Obama is defeated. We must not fall for this game again in this election.
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I love it too for even though there is no chance he will win the nomination he shows the other candidates that we are not simply going to fall in line and vote for who the media thinks we should vote for. If Cain ever did win the nomination he would be called an Uncle Tom by the very same people who claim to be tolerant and diverse.
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I came back after a few days away, to find this nice surprise. I really was down on Santorum as a one trick pony… mostly social issues, but he is starting to appeal more. The Media cannot stand that we have an open primary.
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Welcome back and it must have been a surprise to you to see this news. I really like Santorum and perhaps this news will open up the field to all of the second tier candidates.
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Cain is for real – in an age of “modern” campaigning, he rented a bus and toured the state, making speeches tto small crowds. He said a crowd of 300 was a big deal.
Good onhim – I disagree with wome of what he says, but I think he’s got a lot of integrity and isn’t pushing a big social agenda.
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I liked Cain at the beginning and then I cooled on him but now I am looking at him again. In this age it really is refreshing to see more of a grassroots effort make som headway. As you know, I am very nerous about any national sales tax but I do love the fact that he actually put forth a plan that people can look at and decide on before the election.
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