Romney wins Michigan straw poll

MACKINAC ISLAND, Mich., Sept. 25 (UPI) -- Mitt Romney topped Rick Perry in a straw poll at a Republican Party conference in Romney's home state of Michigan, organizers announced.

Romney placed first in the poll with 51 percent of the 681 ballots cast at the Republican Leadership Conference followed by Perry with 17 percent and businessman Herman Cain with 9 percent.

Tea Party star Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., placed the highest among potential vice presidential candidates.

The Detroit News said Romney's win was not a surprise. Romney was raised in Michigan and his father, George, was a popular governor of the state.

"Gov. Romney is very well known here," said Reid Wilson, editor in chief of the National Journal's The Hotline, one of the organizers of the straw poll. "It doesn't surprise me that he did so well."

Romney and Perry both traveled to relatively remote Mackinac Island in northern Michigan to address the conference, the Detroit Free Press said.