Herman Cain wins Stephens County GOP presidential straw poll

Herman Cain edges out Sarah Palin to win the first Stephens County GOP presidential straw poll conducted by SoonerPoll.� Cain, the former Godfather�s Pizza CEO, won 66 out of 302 votes cast in the presidential preference poll of Stephens County GOP Fish Fry attendees.

That narrowly beat second-place finisher Sarah Palin, the former Alaska governor, who received 63 votes. In third place was U.S. Represent

ative Michelle Bachmann with 38 votes.

The Fish Fry is the Stephens County GOP�s annual fundraiser.� Saturday marked the 7th annual Fish Fry and the first Stephens County GOP Straw Poll conducted by SoonerPoll.

More than 800 people attended the Fish Fry and 302 elected to participate in the poll.

�It�s our largest crowd yet and a reflection of the hard work that the Stephens County GOP has put into registering Republicans,� Steve Fair, Chairman of the Stephens County GOP, said. �Our organization is arguably the most active in the state and we hope to see the GOP be the majority party in Stephens County by the 2012 election.�

Three other candidates finished with more than 20 votes -- the former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney with 31, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, who recently made his candidacy official, with 27 and former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty with 21.

The ballot that was used for the straw poll was developed based on official announcements from candidates and media speculation concerning possible candidates.� One candidate who was included in the poll based on early speculation, Mitch Daniels, has since announced that he will not seek the nomination.

Daniels, the current governor of Indiana, received 15 votes in Saturday�s straw poll.� Texas Congressman Ron Paul was the only other candidate to register in double-digits in the poll with 15 votes.

Candidates who tallied single-digit totals included Rudy Giuliani with 8, Rick Santorum with 4, and John Bolton with 4.