My Sunday Examiner column asks the question of whether Herman Cain has become a real contender for the Republican presidential nomination. I conclude, “it’s beginning to look like he’s a contender.” In response, Marvin Jones, chairman of the San Benito County, California, Republican party sends me the results of the straw poll the party is conducting at the San Benito County Fair. With 141 votes cast, Herman Cain leads with 40 votes, with 30 for Mitt Romney, 21 for Rick Perry and 12 each for Michele Bachmann and Newt Gingrich. I can’t vouch for the San Benito Republican folks, who have some problems with spelling (they’ve got my last name and Bachmann’s and Chris Christie’s spelled wrong), but there you are. Evidently the folks in San Benito County have been watching the debates.

San Benito County is a lightly populated area southeast of San Jose, surrounded by mountains which separate it from coastal Monterey County to the west and the Central Valley to the east. It had a population of 55,269 in 2010, much less than the surrounding counties which have more than 3 million people. On a trip to California a few years ago, I made a point of driving through San Benito County and stopped in San Juan Bautista, where I visited the Mission San Juan Bautista. The mission and the surrounding town looked dusty and old, giving me the feeling I had stepped into nineteenth century California. A sign at the mission tells you that the abrupt drop just outside is the San Andreas Fault; nearby, according to Google Maps, is the Fault Line Restaurant & Gazebo. I gather that San Benito County is one of the most seismically active places in the United States.