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Two weeks ago I wrote in a blog post:

“Herman Cain has no shot. He’s said some things you just can’t say, and even if they were misconstrued, I don’t think he has much of a shot at this point.”

Well, I can admit when I’m wrong. Herman Cain, a so-called second-tier candidate, won the Florida straw poll. While a straw poll shouldn’t be confused with a normal political poll, and isn’t a great predictor of public sentiment, it gives Herman Cain quite a boost.

Rick Perry finished second with 15.4%, but devoted more time and resources to the straw poll than other candidates. His second place finish is considered a major loss.

Other candidates finished as shown below:

Mitt Romney: 14%
Rick Santorum 10.9%
Ron Paul, 10.4%
Newt Gingrich 8.4%
Jon Huntsman 2.3%
Michele Bachmann 1.5%

The take away from this is that Herman Cain is on the rise, while Michele Bachmann is on her last leg.

After Cain’s performance surprised the heck out of me, I felt that I had to give him some credit and admit that I was wrong about the legitimacy of his candidacy (although I still think Romney will win).

For information on how a straw poll works, check out this wikipedia explanation.