COMMENTARY | Traditionally the winner of the Florida Republican straw poll has gone on to win the Republican nomination for president. One can imagine the consternation of political pundits when the winner of the 2011 Florida straw poll was Herman Cain.
Herman Cain, the former CEO of Godfather's Pizza, the only black in the race, had thus far occupied a curious spot in the Republican field. He was respected, his speeches were electrifying, his ideas intriguing. But like Steve Forbes in 1996, Cain, a man without prior political experience, was not thought to be capable of winning. One does not aspire to be president of the United States as an entry-level political job.
That may have changed Saturday. Cain won the Florida straw poll decisively, at 37 percent. Texas Gov. Rick Perry, up until now the presumed front runner, was in a distant second place with former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney just behind.
How was it that Cain, whom many see as the most interesting man in the race, came to win? The Washington Examiner suggests it was the speech Cain made before the Florida delegates that sealed the deal for him. Partly it was the principle that one gets votes only when one asks for them. Partly is that Cain, with his deep, booming voice and his cadence of a natural born orator, moved the crowd as none of the other candidates could.
Partly, Cain was a beneficiary of Perry's abysmal performance at the Fox News/Google debate. Many of the delegates had been planning on voting for Perry. But the debate performance had sown the seeds of doubt among the Florida delegates. So a new conservative alternative to Romney had to be found. It must have been to the consternation of Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum, both former office holders, that the man they choose was a former corporate CEO with no previous political experience.
Another person who must be taken aback is actor Morgan Freeman, who opined the previous day that the tea party was racist in its opposition to President Obama. How can he reconcile that with Cain's victory?
Cain still has long odds. But he has won for himself new respect, with access to media and, perhaps, money. He has turned his campaign to "can't win" into "has a shot." If he can take advantage of the opportunity, he could make history next year.
