The runaway favorite of the western Iowa crowd at a Republican fundraising dinner Friday was Georgia Republican Herman Cain - the guy everyone was there to see speak.

But even in absentia, Alaska's Sarah Palin claimed a surprising second place in the Pottawattamie County GOP's dollar poll, with 38 percent of the votes to Cain's 55 percent.

Cain/Palin?  Oh, be still my jubilant heart.

Nineteen names were listed on the ballot, but only six got any votes, Jorgensen said in an e-mail this morning.

Minnesota's Michele Bachmann earned 5 percent and three Republicans - Utah's Jon Huntsman, Texas' Ron Paul and Indiana's Mitch Daniels - each took 1 percent.

Ignored were: Haley Barbour, John Bolton, Jeb Bush, Newt Gingrich, Mike Huckabee, Gary Johnson, Tim Pawlenty, Mike Pence, David Petraeus, Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, John Thune and Donald Trump.