Romney Wins Straw Poll

[swag]

Source: New York Times

AMES, Iowa – The outcome of the Republican Straw Poll was announced here tonight, with Mitt Romney easily claiming the first prize of the presidential campaign. He was followed by Mike Huckabee and Sam Brownback.

There are, of course, many asterisks on this scorecard and the true significance is an open question. Neither Rudolph Giuliani, John McCain nor Fred Thompson actively participated in the event, but their names were still on the ballot here.
Here are the quick results:

1. Mitt Romney –32 %
2. Mike Huckabee – 18 %
3. Sam Brownback – 15 %
4. Tom Tancredo – 14 %
5. Ron Paul – 9 %
6. Tommy Thompson — 7 %
7. Fred Thompson – 1 percent
8. Rudolph W. Giuliani – 1 %
9. Duncan Hunter – 1 %
10. John McCain (less than 1)
11. John Cox (less than 1)


Read more: http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/08/11/romney-wins-straw-poll/

[Debi]

1. And the big asterisk? Voting machine technical problems!!!

Man...mittens spent alot of dough for a little over 4,000 votes!

[C_U_L8R]

6. He could've given each person five hundred bucks !!!

or another way to look at it... it takes
five hundred bucks to get someone to vote for Romney.

That ain't gonna scale well.

The repukes are so screwn.

[orleans]

11. could've? i thought he DID pay everyone off to the tune of $500. n/t

[swag]

14. And had money left for yard signs:

Mitt Romney spent around $5.7 million in Iowa and got 4,516 votes, which means it cost him $1,262 per vote. (In 1999, Bush got 7,418 by way of comparison).

They should have known they were in trouble when “none of the above” was the top GOP contender.

http://www.firedoglake.com/2007/08/11/what-if-they-gave-a-straw-poll-and-nobody-cared/#comments

[oldtime dfl_er]

2. Even if McCain didn't participate...

less than 1% is pretty shattering, isn't it?

www.scarebaby.com

[0007]

3. Ugh!

:puke:
:puke::puke:
:puke::puke::puke:

[Catchawave]

4. Mitt and Mike = Bush's Third Term !

Ok, back to work....

[swag]

5. Commentary from Steve Benen at TPM:

Keep in mind, organizers hoped for 20,000 straw-poll participants today, and the total was just over 14,000. Eight years ago, nearly 24,000 Republicans took part in the event.

Some of this, it's fair to say, is the result of some top-tier candidates deciding not to participate in Ames, but it also speaks to the ongoing lack of enthusiasm for the GOP field of candidates. (When Obama polls better among Iowa Republicans than several Republican candidates, I think it's fair to say the field is struggling to inspire the GOP faithful.)

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/016490.php

[dweller]

7. we.are.so.screwn. ...

:scared:




:eyes:

dp

[SKKY]

23. Only if HRC wins the nomination. Anyone else can take these chumps...

[Jim Warren]

28. Cakewalk for any Dem

There is so little enthusiasm for the pugs it is the Dems to lose, ANY Dem including HRC.

From TPM

Keep in mind, organizers hoped for 20,000 straw-poll participants today, and the total was just over 14,000. Eight years ago, nearly 24,000 Republicans took part in the event.

The country is absolutely sick of bushco, 15 months away but if the election were held today it would be a landslide Dem victory.........barring any "tragic events" that is.

[SKKY]

29. Sick enough to actually not vote next November?

I doubt it. Whoever the candidate, the Republicans will "phone in" a vote, even if they're not excited.

[tanyev]

8. Paul 9% Giuliani 1% McCain less than 1%

:spray:

And I know they weren't "actively participating", but still.

[CoffeeCat]

9. Let's not forget...

...that Pat Robertson won the '88 Iowa straw poll.

I'm from Iowa, so I can say that.

[Mz Pip]

10. 32% of 14,000

and this is going to decide who will be the GOP candidate?

If Mittens is this delusional then he shouldn't be anywhere near the Oval Office.

Now if I lived in Iowa, I would have taken the free barbecue and bus ride and cast my vote for Ron Paul. Wonder how many people did that?

Mz Pip
:dem:

[msongs]

12. CHICKEN HAWKS score big victory in Iowa nt

[PittPoliSci]

13. who the hell is john cox?

i thought all the republicans were "cox" but still...

okay bad joke i know...

[swag]

15. Appropriate name, I agree, given Vitter, et al.

[Gloria]

16. Huckabee is a big surprise! I'm almost happy about that....

[TwilightGardener]

22. Why? Do you want a preacher-in-chief?

[scarface2004]

17. romney can take the straw..

and shove it up his pasty white ass!!!

[LostInAnomie]

18. I wonder how many bus loads of the citizens of Utah Mittens had to ship in...

... to manage to beat a bunch of nobodies?

[Scooter24]

19. Romney spent a fortune on this...

this win shouldn't come as a surprise.

He doesn't have the war chest to recreate Iowa in every state.

[Limelight]

20. I had a feeling that would happen

Romney is the best looking, biggest smiling, most pandering white guy in the room. Don't you know by now that's all Republicans care about?

[thunder rising]

21. Our Dear Rev Phelps will get on the anti-Mormon

speech soon. Then again, Romney vs Obama he would melt like the wicked witch of the north. I mean who you gonna attack?

[Divine Discontent]

24. well.... BOTH naturally! I mean, c'mon it's FRED!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33-_9nOX8KM

[TwilightGardener]

25. Mittens is going to be the nominee--he's also leading in New Hampshire. Please God kill me now.

[The Sushi Bandit]

26. So what is he going to do with this "Straw Pole"?

Make a house of straw???

[The_Casual_Observer]

27. What a farce! The front runners don't get any votes because they snubbed

the Iowan idiots. The whole exercise was meaningless.