Herman Cain wins TEA Party straw poll at American Policy Summit in Phoenix

CNN: Cain, a conservative talk show host and former Godfather's Pizza chief executive, won the American Policy Summit's presidential live straw poll on Sunday.

Republican Rep. Ron Paul of Texas won the summit's online poll.The survey is a chance for conservative activists gathered on the last day of the Tea Party Patriots conference to name their favorite presidential picks.

Cain won nearly 22 percent of the nearly 1,600 votes cast. Paul won nearly half the votes cast by more than 2,300 online registered attendees. [...]

Following Cain in the live voting were: former Minnesota Republican governor Tim Pawlenty, with nearly 16 percent of the votes; Paul, with just over 15 percent; former Alaska Republican governor Sarah Palin, with just over 10 percent; former Massachusetts Republican governor Mitt Romney, with nearly 6.5 percent, and Minnesota Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann, with just over 5.6 percent.

I am not surprised Cain won.  Cain, Pawlenty and Paul were all in attendance and out of the three, Cain is by far the most charismatic. When the primaries get underway, Cain will certainly be one to watch.  It will be fascinating watching bore snores like Mitt Romney and Tim Pawlenty trying to get attention with Herman Cain and Sarah Palin in the same arena.

I also hope this win helps to raise his profile and name recognition.

For those who missed Cain's remarks at the American Policy Summit, here is the video and for those interested in Pawlenty's remarks you can read them here.

Via: Memeorandum

Via: CNN
Via: Tim Pawlenty

Video h/t: The Right Scoop

Romney wins SRLC straw poll

Mitt Romney won the SRLC straw poll yesterday, so what does that tell us? It tells us that Mitt Romney was better at gaming the straw poll this time than Ron Paul was.

Here are the official results from SRLC: 

If the primary election for president were held today, for whom would you vote? Please check the box by the candidate of your choice.

Newt Gingrich    18%

Mike Huckabee  4%

Gary Johnson    1%

Sarah Palin       18%

Ron Paul           24% (438 votes)

Tim Pawlenty   3%

Mike Pence      3%

Mitt Romney    24% (439 votes)

Rick Santorum    2%

2. Who would be your second choice in the Republican Primary Election for president?

Newt Gingrich    19%

Mike Huckabee  10%

Gary Johnson    6%

Sarah Palin  18%

Ron Paul 5%

Tim Pawlenty  6%

Mike Pence    8%

Mitt Romney    13%

Rick Santorum   7%

It would have been interesting to see what the numbers would have been like without the gaming. Where would have Romney and Paul actually placed?  For myself, I don’t think Romney has really answered the RomneyCare question. Romney's Tenth Amendment argument seems a wee bit weak to me (National socialism = bad, State level socialism = good). On the upside, Romney still has over a year to come up with a better answer.

Via: Memeorandum

Via: Politico

Via: SLRC

Via: Left Coast Rebel