Herman Cain gets more votes than Perry, Romney combined in Florida mock election

ORLANDO - Herman Cain was the clear winner Saturday of a straw poll of Republican activists in this battleground state, amassing more votes that the frontrunners for the presidential nomination, Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, combined.

Cain, a Georgia businessman whose compelling personal story - he grew up poor and black and beat cancer - and fiery rhetoric about the need to simplify the tax code and jump-start the economy struck a chord with Republican activists here, won 37 percent of the 2,657 votes cast. Perry, who made a late but spirited effort in the state, got 15 percent. Romney, who had announced earlier he is not competing in straw polls, came in third with 14 percent of the vote.