The two happiest men in the Republican Party
(Scott Audette/Reuters)
With
this result, is Rick Perry's campaign pretty much over?
ORLANDO, Fla. -- Herman Cain won the Presidency 5 Florida Straw poll with 996 votes, blowing past Rick Perry and Ron Paul, both of whom had organized to win here.
"It shows you something," said Gov. Rick Scott. "The road to the White House is right through Florida. It pays to be here."
Of course, Perry had shown up -- he was here from Thursday night to Saturday morning, working over delegates personally. By failing so convincingly, Perry's ensured that the weekend's "trouble for frontrunner narrative" will be plated in gold and frozen in amber.
The final tally:
Herman Cain: 37.11%
Rick Perry: 15.43%
Mitt Romney: 14.00%
Rick Santorum: 10.88%
Ron Paul: 10.39%
Newt Gingrich: 8.43%
Jon Huntsman: 2.26%
Michele Bachmann: 1.51%
I'd say that Republicans couldn't be crazy enough to nominate Herman Cain ... but then again, they also nominated Christine O'Donnell, Sharron Angle, Joe Miller, Ken Buck, and, yes, Sarah Palin.
3:23 PM PT (Kaili Joy Gray): Sa-rah! Sa-rah! Sa-rah!