Questions raised about tonight's straw poll in Harris County

Who's got the short straw? Depends
 on who's picking out the straws.

Coming up tonight: a "Take Back Harris County" rally in Houston, featuring many of the Republican candidates for statewide office as "special guests" and a straw poll.

I always find straw polls to be very interesting political games. I've said many times before that if you give me at least a week's notice and an adequate budget, that I can buy almost any straw poll in the country.

There are several important tricks to understanding straw polls:

CPAC 2012: defective internet, defective hippies, but the straw poll finally made sense

Sigh. So...I'm here at the last day of CPAC, and the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel has been a great location again, except for one very glaring issue: slow and unreliable internet connection.

Herman Cain's lucky numbers

You'd be smiling too, if you were this guy.

Herman Cain has a lot of reasons to smile. 

It is now clear that his win at the Florida Presidency 5 straw poll was no fluke.

Besides a significant fundraising surge late in the third quarter ending on September 30, great polling numbers continue to pour in, providing statistical evidence to the ample "I like that guy!" anecdotal evidence I've been seeing for months:

Shameless plug: Some media appearances regarding the Florida Straw Poll

Here's a few media appearances I did over the past week regarding CPAC Florida, the Presidency 5 debate and straw poll, and reaction:

American Spectator | Herman Cain's Magic Moment (quoted in article about Scott Plakon's endorsement of Herman Cain the day before the straw poll)

Flashpoint | 09.25.11 | Guests: Justin Sayfie, Sarah Rumpf, Bill Mick (click link to view video; site does not allow embedding their videos)


YouTube | Sarah Rumpf on Fox 35 Orlando discussing Cain's Florida Straw Poll Win

2 + 2 about Adam Hasner's CPACFL straw poll win

Herman Cain wasn't the only big winner last week; Florida Senate candidate Adam Hasner also won the CPAC Florida straw poll, with 34% of the vote in a four-way race.

This post is titled "2 + 2" because I've got two important points about this victory and two great video interviews to share with you:

BREAKING: Herman Cain leads new Zogby poll!

 The "Hurri-CAIN" continues...

IBOPE Zogby Poll: Perry Plummets to 18%; Trails Cain For Lead Among GOP Primary Voters

Rick Perry has tumbled by more than 20 percentage points over the past month among Republican presidential primary voters and is now second to Herman Cain, who leads the field with 28%. 

Phone call with Herman Cain

After Herman Cain won the Presidency 5 straw poll, I found State Representative Scott Plakon and his wife Susie in the convention center lobby and we called one of the Cain staffers who had set up the meeting where Plakon had endorsed Cain.

A very happy Team Cain was already on their way to the airport, but Herman Cain had time to briefly chat with us on the phone about how pleased he was with the straw poll results and how grateful he was for Plakon's support. They were nice enough to let me record the call, and I'm happy to share it with you here:

HERMAN CAIN WINS #FloridaP5 straw poll!

"A hurri-CAIN has hit Florida!"
- State Representative Scott Plakon

BOOM! @AdamHasner wins #CPACFL straw poll

I'll post more when I get the rest of the details, but I have confirmed that Adam Hasner has won the CPAC Florida straw poll by a convincing 34% to LeMieux's McCalister's 24%. Congrats to #TeamHasner!

UPDATE: My apologies, in the excitement I made an error in the original post about who came in second in the CPAC straw poll. Correction above.