Herman Cain edges out Ron Paul in Georgia GOP straw poll

Georgia native and tea party favorite Herman Cain edged out libertarian Ron Paul at the GOP annual fish fry down in Perry on Saturday.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney finished a surprisingly distant fifth, behind Texas Gov. Rick Perry and another Georgia favorite, former U.S. House speaker Newt Gingrich. Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann also had a weak showing.

Results were just phoned in by B.J. VanGundy, the party’s second vice president. Over 1100 tickets were sold, he said, and 890 votes were cast.

The totals:

– Herman Cain, 232 or 26 percent;

– Ron Paul, 229 or 25.7 percent;

– Rick Perry, 179 or 20 percent;

– Newt Gingrich, 162 or 18 percent;

– Mitt Romney, 51 or 6 percent;

– Michele Bachman, 29 or 3 percent;

– Rick Santorum, 4 or .4 percent

– Jon Huntsman, 3 or .3 percent;

– Thad McCotter, 1 or .1 percent;

– Buddy Roemer, 0;

– Gary Johnson, 0;

- By Jim Galloway, Political Insider

For instant updates, follow me on Twitter, or connect with me on Facebook.

285 comments Add your comment

steve

August 27th, 2011
10:27 pm

Ron Paul 2012!

Marc

August 27th, 2011
10:29 pm

Seriously. Retarded. HE REPRESENTS that area, and he KNOWS that the money will be spent anyway DESPITE him voting AGAINST it because the politicians will NEVER STOP spending. A fool would reject the money for his own constituents like you two. A person is handing out money (NOT FREE MONEY WE ARE PAYING THE BILL) and you reject that money instead of giving back as MUCH MONEY as you can back to your constituents? Remember this guy has not voted for a single payraise for himself, nor does he participate in all the luxury pensions that the other political crooks do. YOU HAVE NO POINT fools.

Marc

August 27th, 2011
10:29 pm

George Washington

August 27th, 2011
10:39 pm

Go Ron Paul! Go America! Go Constitution! Go Job Creation! Go Economic Growth! Go Peace! Go Balanced Budget! Go Responsible Washington!

Bring our Troops home NOW!
God Bless America. God Bless Our Troops!
Ron Paul 2012

Marc

August 27th, 2011
10:40 pm

Thanks, George!

David in Flowery Branch

August 27th, 2011
10:43 pm

Hey Ron Paul (and Michelle Bachman in Iowa) folks:

Y’all go ask Gerry Purcell (ran for Insurance Commissioner in GA) and Melvin Everson (ran for Labor Commissioner in GA) how winning all of the Straw Polls across Georgia worked out for them in 2010.

Hint: Melvin lost about 30/70 and Gerry came in 4th place. (OK. Not really much of a hint. More of a spoiler).

The RP folks pointing at the 25 or 30 HC people that came in by bus are hillarious!

Check out these interesting tidbits from the RP’s own site:

“And the people behind rp2012.org did a GREAT job with their “below the radar” strategy of robocalls and tickets for RP supporters. WELL DONE.”

“We gave away about 120 tickets from our grassroots outreach efforts. ”

and the way they did it (also directly from RP website here http://www.dailypaul.com/175882/georgia-straw-poll-please-help ):

“Here’s how it works: [We] essentially invite Ron Paul supporters via a robocall. The person [we] call basically wins a free ticket to the straw poll IF they answer “Ron Paul” to the following question: “Do you know who has been called the champion of the Constitution and the taxpayer’s best friend ever?” If they get it right — they get a ticket.”

Matt

August 27th, 2011
10:52 pm

I’m a Ron Paul supporter myself, but all I know is, no matter who wins… no matter how old, what the color of their skin, whether they’re male or female… I just hope we don’t have to deal with another George W Bush or Obama… they’ve both clearly shown that they have no idea what to do in the Oval Office, and American people’s lives and financial grounds are on the balance. Something different has to be done, because whatever wacky system we’ve got set up right now ain’t doing the trick.

Steven

August 27th, 2011
10:53 pm

Way to go Ron Paul! There is a little Ron Paul in all of us!

David in Flowery Branch

August 27th, 2011
10:54 pm

I just went back and read comments from RPers saying things like “I bet RP didn’t even put anything into this” and “RP did it without any buses”.

Just tooooo funny based on the fact that almost had to trick folks into “winning” tickets and admit on their own website that they “gave away about 120 tickets from our grassroots outreach”.

Subtract 120 from RP’s Straw Poll total and he’s in the basement!

C

August 27th, 2011
10:56 pm

Ron Paul almost beats another politician in their home state!

http://www.ronpaul2012.com

honested

August 27th, 2011
10:57 pm

ron paul
Runs as a republican
Votes as a libertarian
Takes Federal dollars as a socialist.

Which one is he?

Freedomlover24l

August 27th, 2011
10:57 pm

If Ron Paul wins the Presidency, I am leaving the country.

honested

August 27th, 2011
10:58 pm

Freedom,

Don’t start packing.
He isn’t likely to finish 3rd in a primary.

Marc

August 27th, 2011
10:59 pm

lick the boots of the empire. You talk about how irrelevant straw polls are and how irrelevant this fish fry is and then whine like little schoolgirls about how Ron’s supporters do this or that. And SPIN it without objectivity even in doing that. Ron is fighting for your freedom and your property and you are completely worthless in your stubborn and retarded insistence on following the media lies and the lies of the puppets that belong to the FED and the interests of the military elite. Worthless fools.

Matt

August 27th, 2011
11:00 pm

Well, maybe this is just me, but… if the RP people did earn free passes to vote in the straw poll or whatever… it’s not like they were forced at gunpoint to take them; I would imagine the thought process being, “Oh, I like this candidate, and look! This group of people is giving me the chance to show my support for the candidate for free! I think I’ll just take advantage of that; after all, in this economy, free is always a good price!” It would be different if they were forced into going to this thing, but I have a hard time thinking that the people would go if they didn’t want to go.

Ryan

August 27th, 2011
11:02 pm

Ron Paul 2012!! End the Wars!! End the IRS!! End the Income Tax!!

honested

August 27th, 2011
11:06 pm

marc

Take a moment, look in the mirror.
Figure out who is really licking what, and who might just be the fool.

honested

August 27th, 2011
11:07 pm

matt,

If you wave something shiny in front of a large number of Georgia voters and promise them a free meal, it is amazing to what level they will stoop.

Just look at our current and previous Governors.

Marc

August 27th, 2011
11:08 pm

you people gripe about something you’ve never spent a fraction of a second trying to understand. You doom yourselves and you certainly don’t understand the issues. You care about regurgitating the opinions of your idols like Rush Limbaugh and Hannity etc what fools you are. Despite you and your kind, people ARE waking up and they ARE listening, and that scares your masters more than it does you, I PROMISE.

honested

August 27th, 2011
11:09 pm

marc,

Nothing scares me more than any moron with an ‘r’ next to his name taking over the White House or accidentally holding the House.

The rest of it is just smelly hot air floating quickly away.

Marc

August 27th, 2011
11:14 pm

Ron will continue to gain popularity, his message WILL get exposure despite your attempts to ridicule and hide them. You have a very good chance of being saved despite your arrogance and idiocy. ANYONE ELSE who doesnt know about Ron Paul and isn’t completely brain washed yet or set on being slaves please do research Ron. He has several books out, His website is easy to find, and his positions are all out there on YOU TUBE etc. Be careful only to listen to him and his own words- obviously as seen above people will slant, lie, manipulate and edit his words to suit their own stupid agendas. Ask yourself why the media is trying to black him out. He’s a valid contender that is WINNING many of these polls. The media puts out polls and then takes them down when RON comes out ahead. They ignore the number 2 and only speak about 1 and 3. Even JON STEWART had to clown on these fools because they are blatantly ignoring Ron. Why? Because he is packing truth and supporting US and the Constitution and that really threatens everything the evil people in our government have been working hard on in secret. Check him out, I dare you!

honested

August 27th, 2011
11:20 pm

Is there anything in the world more dangerous than an excited disciple?

Marc

August 27th, 2011
11:24 pm

yeah, an apathetic bootlicker who spreads lies and tries to sabotage the only true effort to win back everyone’s freedom. Your perspective is truly dangerous to all of us.

honested

August 27th, 2011
11:28 pm

Whoever is still paying a little tiny bit of attention.
Ron Paul:
Opposes reproductive rights.
Opposes public education
Supports the radical christian reconstructionist nutcase ‘Constitution Party’.
Opposes gay rights.
Opposes appropriate revenue collection and distribution.
Supports a return to the early 1900’s.

Do the research, the thick blanket of facts should have suffocated this pathetic nutcase years ago.

Marc

August 27th, 2011
11:40 pm

WHoever is still paying a little bit of attention: honested is an obsessive compulsive liar:

honested
August 27th, 2011
11:28 pm

Whoever is still paying a little tiny bit of attention.
Ron Paul:

Opposes reproductive rights. (FALSE. He is pro life but believes that the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT SHOULD NOT BE INVOLVED IN THIS AT ALL)

Opposes public education (FALSE. He is very pro education but believes AGAIN that the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT WAS NOT AUTHORIZED TO MAKE UP RULES ON THIS by the CONSTITUTION)

Supports the radical christian reconstructionist nutcase ‘Constitution Party’. (FALSE. He IS Christian but believes AGAIN that the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT should not BE INVOLVED In any way, shape or form in RELIGION. AGAIN, supporting the CONSTITUTION.)

Opposes gay rights. (FALSE. He supports rights for ALL people and believes AGAIN that the FEDERAL government should not be involved in saying ANYTHING about how a person lives their life)
Opposes appropriate revenue collection and distribution. (FALSE. He opposses INAPPROPRIATE and UNCONSTITUTIONAL THEFT and UNCHECKED EXPENDITURES without the PEOPLE KNOWING WHERE MONEY GOES)

Supports a return to the early 1900’s. (FALSE. and absurd. What is this supposed to mean, anyway? seriously retarded)

Do the research, the thick blanket of facts should have suffocated this pathetic nutcase years ago.

APPARENTLY DIS-honested believes you all are too stupid to do any research and fancies that you will just take his word for it. Well, obsessive compulsive liar Ed, you were WRONG.

what a bday present. tied the native. go RP

August 27th, 2011
11:44 pm

Enter your comments here

Alex

August 27th, 2011
11:46 pm

Ron Paul 2012!!!

Marc

August 27th, 2011
11:47 pm

GO ALEX! Ron Paul 2012!

Marc

August 27th, 2011
11:48 pm

honested

August 27th, 2011
11:50 pm

marc,

Does he or does he not support the ‘Constitution Party’? (careful, the facts are clear)

Does he or does he not oppose a woman’s unobstructed right to determine whether or not to bear a child? (again, this one is documented and not really open to debate).

Does he support or oppose public education as it is funded in this country? ( Nobody is asking about some artificial nonsense to replace public education, just whether he supports the current open access to schools as has been the law since Teddy Roosevelt was President).

Does he support taxation based on the obvious fact that those who gain the most (highest earners) have the greatest responsibility to keep the system funded. Put another way, does he accept that those who CONTROL the greatest amount of WEALTH have the clear responsibility to pay the freight as allocated to each dollar of that wealth? (I tried to limit the number of avenues to redirect and weasel out of that one).

Few people support the wholesale uprooting of Civilization to embark on some fools errand down a path that is known to fail. You are welcomed to your opinion, but be honest in portraying ron paul’s views of the world.

John Dean

August 27th, 2011
11:57 pm

3 Votes?! In his home state?! 0.34% is a statistical tie, sir. And in the midst of a 24 hr. establishment media propaganda campaign. Edged out, my ass. Ron Paul’s got it locked. Cain can pack it up.

[...] full standings, from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Jim Galloway, who notes the lack of enthusiasm for Mitt Romney and Michele [...]

concerned

August 28th, 2011
12:04 am

Interesting vote, but doesn’t mean a darn thing. Neither Cain or Paul are electable. No way either of them wins the nomination. Not taking sides, just an objective observation. Hard for me to believe I actually read this drivel of an article, much less commented. Please give me back these last few minutes.

richblood

August 28th, 2011
12:08 am

Hermain Cain? seriously…? wtf?

John Dean

August 28th, 2011
12:19 am

@honested, Put down the crack pipe and step away from the Kool-Aid. Ron Paul has the most conservative voting record OF ANY CONGRESSMAN IN U.S. HISTORY. Accusing a student of the Austrian School of socialism is beyond laughable. Herman Cain is taking a page right out of the Communist Manifesto with his support of central banking. NO supporter of the free-market and sound economics supports the thoroughly discredited junk science that is Keynesian ‘economics’. Your Federal Reserve shill, TARP supporter, and ‘problem solver’ can’t solve anything he fundamentally does not understand. He’s already done enough damage for one lifetime, he’s done, and he can take his collectivism and statism and go home.

Chris

August 28th, 2011
12:35 am

Ron Paul 2012!!!…Anyone who dosen’t like Ron Paul CLEARLY hasn’t done their research. Anyone who researches Dr. Ron Paul will come to respect and love this man. Those of you who support Dr. Paul is on the right side of history and the truth always wins in the end…..so I say Cheers to you doesn’t it feels good to know your supporting a man of principle and honesty!! Sorry Cain,Romney,Bachman,and Perry supporters you don’t have that luxury ;-)

Joshua

August 28th, 2011
12:36 am

I love Ron Paul, but these Straw Polls are always stuffed in his favor. He was winning them in ‘07, and being one of only a few thousand people who voted for him in the general election, I can tell you how that turned out. However it’s probably a good indicator for other candidates, whose votes usually come from people who can’t be bothered to show up for anything until the actual election.

Thaddeus S. Kaczor, Jr.

August 28th, 2011
12:47 am

FOXNewsPMSNBCCNNABCCBSNYTWaPoTIMENEWSWEEK Headline:
“CAIN WINS GEORGIA STRAW POLL… Perry a Close Third!”

[...] full standings, from a Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Jim Galloway, who records a miss of unrestrained for Mitt Romney and Michele [...]

Marc

August 28th, 2011
12:50 am

Since it isn’t letting me post comments here beyond a few words, I will have to tell you to research this yourself. I’ve tried twice to paste my response and it isn’t showing them. Obviously someone doesn’t want the truth out there.

Marc

August 28th, 2011
12:53 am

Does he or does he not support the ‘Constitution Party’? (careful, the facts are clear)
….

ajtdonahue

August 28th, 2011
12:54 am

honested:

Do you support the right of a woman at 8.5 months pregnant to abort?

You are very confused on RP’s position on public education. Just because he is against the Department of Education doesn’t make him against public education. Do you support sending your money to Washington, having a big beaurocracy (DOE) take a huge chunck of that money to pay their hefty salaries and adminstrative costs and then send back to your state the scraps that are left in the form of “No child left behind”. What are the positive results that can be directly attributed to the DOE? I think most non-brainwashed Americans would agree that education has gone down hill since the DOE was formed in the early 1970’s. President Reagan campaign saying that getting rid of the DOE was a goal.

RP is against anyone paying income tax. Do you like paying income tax? All he is saying is that if you reduced the budget back to our national budget in 1985 we would not need the funds from the income tax to fund the budget. I remember 1985, I was 19, people were complaining and campaigning back then about how government was way to big.

Basically, RP believes government=waste. They never stay within budget on anything and the results of their efforts are 95% of the time very disappointing. If we give them less money there is less they can mess up. Makes sense to me.

BeenThereDoneThat

August 28th, 2011
12:54 am

Marc

August 28th, 2011
12:55 am

Your information and thus insinuations are outdated. Ron endorsed a CANDIDATE of the Constitution Party named Chuck Baldwin because he had some good ideas- in 2008. Bob Bar (of the libertarian party) got pissed and pulled out of an event at the last moment citing his tantrum was caused by Ron endorsing too many people and weakening the libertarian leadership. He INVITED Ron to be his VICE PRESIDENT and ROn politely DECLINED, showing a backbone. CURRENTLY, the Constitutional Party does NOT endorse Ron and do NOT consider him to be one of their order. NEXT

Marc

August 28th, 2011
12:56 am

Ron wrote honestly in his book “The Revolution” that when he was young and an intern that he walked in on a woman getting a delivery/abortion and saw a bunch of doctors/nurses chuck a baby into a bucket. He stood there in horror as the baby gasped for it’s first breath, trying to live. That changed his views forever, and YES, he IS PRO LIFE. YOU are trying to INSINUATE that he would take a woman’s rights away. Nothing is further from the truth. He is foremost for freedoms. IN FACT, what he has STATE even RECENTLY, if you had been paying attention was that his position is that the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT should NOT be involved in this because it is not their right to do so and it is not authorized by the CONSTITUTION ANYWHERE. He has stated that IF.. IF the states want to make a rule, it would be THEIR right to do so, but NOT the FEDERAL governments. Stop trying to insinuate that Ron is taking people’s rights away.NEXT.

Marc

August 28th, 2011
12:57 am

Again, insinuating things. Ron is NOT for the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT’S involvement in this, NO. AGAIN, he looks at things STRICTLY by the CONSTITUTION, which is HIS FREAKIN JOB. He believes this should be handled by the STATE, keeping the irresponsible and greedy hands of the federal government out of things.NEXT.

Marc

August 28th, 2011
1:01 am

Fewer Taxes for Real Economic Stimulus

by Ron Paul

Taxes are the issue this week as Americans struggle to make the April 15th deadline to file their returns. It is a good time to contemplate the effects of big government and what it does to our country. The income tax is one of the most egregious encroachments on our liberties today. It is a form of involuntary servitude, which was supposed to have been outlawed by the 13th Amendment.

Tax Freedom Day is defined as the day when the nation as a whole has theoretically earned enough income to fund its annual federal tax burden. For all of the days of the year before this day, you are a slave to government. For 2009, Tax Freedom Day will come on April 13th. Almost a century ago in 1910, before the mistakes of 1913-namely the inception of the Federal Reserve and our current income tax, Tax Freedom Day was January 19th, signifying a mere 5% tax burden. Somehow, our country functioned just fine.

If calculated to include government spending and the deficit, rather than just collections, Tax Freedom Day would actually fall on May 29. The annual deficit adds to the growing debt of future generations and adds insult to injury to those that struggle to make this economy work. It is a slap in the face that this is not enough to prevent this crushing governmental burden from falling on the next generation.

For months now, Washington has been desperately throwing taxpayers’ money at various programs to stimulate us out of the recession, to no avail. Seeing hard-earned money confiscated from the people and spent in such wasteful ways, such as the recent bailouts, is almost too much to bear. Getting rid of the income tax altogether, while very beneficial, may be a while in coming. In the meantime, I am fighting for every tax cut or tax credit possible.

I can think of no better economic stimulus than letting people keep their money and spend it how they see fit. For this reason, I am an original cosponsor on a bill that would give Americans a two month employment and income tax holiday, while taking unused TARP money back from the Secretary of the Treasury and putting it in the Social Security trust fund instead.

In addition, I have recently introduced the Child Health Care Affordability Act. If passed this legislation would provide parents with a tax credit of up to $500 for health care expenses of dependent children. I have also re-introduced the Tax Free Tips Act, which would make tips exempt from federal income and payroll taxes. I am also an original cosponsor of a bill that would make permanent the deduction of state and local sales taxes. My bill HR 162 exempts Social Security benefits from income tax.

These are just a few of the many tax related bills I am fighting for in Congress, but without a corresponding cut in the size of government, which I am also fighting for, we are simply adding to the future tax burden of our children

Marc

August 28th, 2011
1:06 am

thanks ajtdonahue! This message board is not letting posts through. I had to try several times to get these to show up. Glad to see that you’ve got Ron’s back and are schooling Mr. DIS-honested.

Marc

August 28th, 2011
1:07 am

Josh maybe that is more about election rigging?

Justin Rogers

August 28th, 2011
1:27 am

“tea party favorite Herman Cain”?

You’re kidding, right?