So everyone in the political world is shocked that Herman Cain won the Florida straw poll. Hmmm. There are millions of conservatives out here in the real world who are not at all surprised. After the first debate, the one during which he charmed us all with his disarmingly straightforward answers to often stupid questions, we were afraid to think he might actually be our candidate.

After the debate the other night, only Cain seemed like a man with unshakeable honor, a man without guile. He seems to be a true conservative with core convictions and a delicious anti-Republican establishment bent. While I've long thought Romney would be the GOP candidate, I fear his lack of conviction re: repealing Obamacare...waivers "for every state and every American" is not repeal. I fear his capitulation to the global warming alarmists.

Perry, who I thought would steal my heart and campaign dollars, has fizzled. I cannot abide funding the children of illegal immigrants to the punitive exclusion of our own citizen students. I cannot tolerate his stooping to typical democrat calumny "you have no heart" if you don't support his state Dream Act. I support all immigrants' striving and hope for an education as surely as I do my own childrens' goals but American citizens must come first since it is American taxpayers who subsidize American education.

So Herman Cain is my candidate, despite the opprobrium he endures from conservative pundits who think he doesn't' have a chance. The folks in Florida speak for more of us than the DC/Republican in-crowd can imagine. Bottom line? Cain is a truly fine man. Can we say that with assurance about any of the other candidates?

Patricia McCarthy