Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul won a California GOP straw poll Saturday night, The Sacramento Bee reported.

The Texas congressman picked up just under 45 percent of the 833 ballots cast at the state party convention in downtown Los Angeles.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry, considered the clear frontrunner in the nomination battle, came in second with 29 percent of the vote.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney was a distant third with nine percent of the votes cast, while Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann came in fourth with 7.7 percent.

No other candidate polled more than two percent of the vote.

The straw poll was not a prize that most campaigns were organizing for, according to Politico, in light of the state's traditional Democrat support.