businessman herman cain the runaway winner of the republican straw poll leaving rick perry and mitt romney in the dust. joining me now, michael smir khan as you. michael, good morning. >> hi alex. what do you make of his win and his time in the spotlight? >> i don't know that it's a stunner. in the straw polls, what really matters is passion. not many people vote. it's an expensive proposition. they tend to favor the most ideologically extreme people. in the way that michele bachmann captured a similar vote in iowa, that's what you see going on with herman cain. i do think that it is a rebuff of governor perry largely because as you've already pointed out this morning, the answer that he gave in the debate last week about immigration. interestingly, alex, i think the answer that he gave is the sort of answer that might cause moderates, it might cause independents to look at him in a general. but it's a death now in a