Cain, a former Godfather’s Pizza executive has never held political office. Perry's pain is Cain's gain in Fla.

ORLANDO—Herman Cain scored an upset victory in Florida’s Presidency 5 straw poll Saturday, dealing a blow to GOP presidential front-runner Rick Perry, who made a strong push to win the event.

Cain, a former Godfather’s Pizza executive who has never held political office, gave a fiery speech to the Republican delegates here Saturday. Activists acknowledged that Cain was unlikely to win the presidency, but rallied to his down-the-line conservative message.


“I don’t believe Herman Cain will be the nominee, but I hope that [his] standing for some of the more conservative candidates sends a message that I hope will be embraced,” explained Kevin McNevin, a delegate from Sarasota, at a Saturday breakfast hosted by the Perry campaign.

Cain’s victory is a major disappointment to Perry, whose campaign has spent the past 48 hours attempting to recover from the candidate’s weak performance in Thursday night’s debate.

Perry supporters had hoped that by winning the straw poll, he could quiet some of the questions raised by his unsteady turn on the debate stage.

Instead, the straw poll results will reinforce the impression Perry gave in the debate: That he is struggling to maintain his once-commanding position in the polls.

The Texas governor took a little more than 15 percent of the vote, finishing far behind Cain, who had 37 percent. Mitt Romney finished in third place, with 14 percent of 2,657 votes cast.

John Stemberger, a Perry backer who heads the Florida Family Policy Council, acknowledged that the result was a “significant upset” and pointed to the debate as an explanation.

“I think Perry’s still very viable. The debate was the issue. It just underscores the importance of communication in this business,” Stemberger said. “If he had been better at the debate, I think we wouldn’t have had this result. I think he’s got to work on his ability to communicate.”

Despite the Perry campaign’s efforts, spokesman Mark Miner said they were not surprised by Cain’s victory, which he called a good day for “the conservative message.” Miner argued it was “devastating” to Romney’s campaign that Perry finished narrowly ahead of him.

“Whether it’s his flip-flops, whether it’s his liberal views — whatever the ultimate reason, the people of Florida rejected Mitt Romney once again,” Miner said.

In a statement, Perry himself congratulated Cain and took a veiled shot at Romney, saying that “Floridians and voters nationally want a candidate who is clear on the issues and talks honestly about the future, not someone who takes multiple sides of an issue and changes views every election season.”

“Today’s vote demonstrates that Floridians are energized and ready to help get America working again,” said Perry, who left Florida earlier Saturday to participate in this weekend’s GOP conference in Michigan.

Taking fourth place in the straw poll, behind Romney, was Rick Santorum with 11 percent of the vote. Ron Paul took 10 percent, followed by Newt Gingrich with 8 percent and Huntsman with 2 percent.

Finishing in last place was Michele Bachmann, the Minnesota congresswoman who took first place in the Iowa straw poll just over a month ago. That disappointing finish is the latest sign of Bachmann’s dramatic fade since Perry entered the race on that same day in mid-August.

Presidency 5 delegate Samuel Colton, a retired physician, said ahead of the straw poll that he planned to support Bachmann as the “one true conservative, tea party” candidate in the race.

But Colton said he was resigned to the likelihood that Romney would be the nominee.

“I don’t know if he’s a true conservative,” Colton said. “He has a chance to beat Barack Obama.”

Cain will receive at least a short-term boost from the straw poll results, but Romney may be the biggest winner at Presidency 5. Until this week, Perry appeared to be on his way to cementing his advantage over Romney in the primary, thanks to strong support on the right.

In the wake of a debate in Orlando that even Perry supporters acknowledged was problematic, many activist conservatives seem to have taken their votes elsewhere — to Cain, a candidate Romney does not fear.

Brooksville delegate Beth Shields said she came to the conference prepared to vote for Perry, but changed her mind after the debate and cast her ballot for Cain.

“When I came here, I was really hoping that he was going to make me love him and I just don’t think he showed well,” said Shields, who added that Cain was “not full of himself. He’s honest, he’s got a sense of humor, he’s got a plan.”

Some Florida Republicans appeared to downplay the impact of a contest that elevated a long-shot activist — Cain — over a group of more mainstream candidates.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott, who had predicted ahead of the straw poll that the winner of the event would be the next president of the United States, sounded a softer note in a statement congratulating Cain on his win.

“Clearly, communicating a strong conservative message directly to Florida and its grass-roots voters made a difference today,” said Scott, who has a close relationship with Perry. “I believe that as we saw in 2010, a challenging primary between our Republican candidates will serve our party, state and nation well in preparing to defeat President Obama in 2012.”

Republican Party of Florida spokesman Brian Hughes suggested it had been a mistake for several candidates, including Perry, to leave the state before the straw poll vote was taken.

Jon Huntsman campaigned in New Hampshire on the day of the straw poll and finished second to last, while Romney simply declined to participate.

“Retail politics 101: The person who shows up and works hard wins,” Hughes said. “A number of them left the state, but Herman Cain stayed.”

Denied a promising opportunity to bounce back from his debate performance, Perry’s task will now be to convince Republican donors and conservative leaders that his White House is on track, despite an embarrassing defeat to an underdog opponent.

It will be difficult for Perry’s campaign to downplay the significance of the straw poll results, since the candidate himself declared at an event Saturday that the contest was “very important.”

What’s more, Perry spent money on mail pieces to drum up support in the Presidency 5 ballot, and earned the endorsement of Florida House Speaker Dean Cannon and other state legislators.

Only a few days ago, those in-state supporters confidently predicted Perry would win on Saturday.