And, as I suggested, Perry’s remarkably stupid pro-immigration position is sinking him:
Every winner of Florida’s Presidency 5 straw poll has gone on to win the GOP nomination. And if that tradition continues this year, Herman Cain will be the Republican nominee in 2012.
He overwhelmingly won the straw poll, nabbing 37 percent of the votes. That put Cain more than twenty percentage points ahead of Rick Perry (15 percent) and Mitt Romney (14 percent). Rick Santorum won 11 percent of the votes, while Ron Paul came in fifth at 10 percent. Newt Gingrich was backed by 8 percent. And Michele Bachmann, who won the Ames Straw Poll, finished dead last at 1.5 percent. Jon Huntsman beat her to come in seventh place with 2.3 percent of the vote.
For Perry, whose campaign very aggressively courted delegates — his campaign hosted a breakfast, sent out direct mail, telephoned delegates, and appointed a leadership commission lead by Florida House speaker Dean Cannon — the distant second-place finish has the potential to curtail the momentum he’s had as frontrunner since entering the race. Many of the straw poll delegates expressed frustration at his poor debate performance Thursday night, along with irritation at his immigration positions.
Cain is a corrupt joke as a presidential candidate, but then, so were Bob Dole and John McCain. Obviously that wouldn’t stop Republicans from putting him up, especially since the party base despises Romney and is quickly coming to dislike Perry. I still don’t see Cain winning the nomination, but Perry’s ongoing meltdown makes it less implausible than before.