Mitt Romney wins Republican straw poll, Ron Paul loses by one vote!

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6392DK20100410

Romney, who lost the Republican nomination to Senator John McCain in 2008, beat out Republican Representative Ron Paul in a straw poll of participants at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference.

Romney did not attend the New Orleans conference, instead proceeding with a book tour that took him to New Hampshire on Thursday. Of 1,806 votes cast, Romney had 439 votes to Paul's 438.

Sarah Palin, a former Alaska governor and the party's 2008 vice presidential nominee, came third with 330 votes, followed by former House Speaker Newt Gingrich at 321.

This is actually awful for Palin - as this is the Southern Leadership Conference shouldn't this be a place where she does better than elsewhere? She is in fact a poor 3rd. This really shows the media coverage of a half term governor, nightmare VP is way more than justified. But, if they keep doing this, she may take the air needed by someone who could be a better candidate. (Not to mention with her, Limbaugh, Hannity and all riling everyone up on the healthcare bill being tyranny, unconstitutional and all - what would happen to the fringe if Romney becomes the candidate? )

No surprise that the Republicons GO for yet another Chickenhawk.

That really is their thingy...

before Obama did!

I'm not saying that Romney didn't pay for his votes, but Ron Paul has a group of activist supporters with a history of making his popularity in such contests bear no relation to the real world conditions.

Mitt
Newt
Haley ..oh please
Sarah/.. OH PLEASE!!

Serve it up

Ron Paul could actually be formidable but the RNC/GOP will never fund him (see what Haley did to Dole in 1996)

When the results are determined most operatives want to put up someone they can then make look ineffectual or even destroy.

So in a closed system, if one candidate is slated to win, you put up against that candidate someone that has a block of people that you want to show as defeated.


On a side note, that is one of the reasons I stopped pushing for public option in posts during Senate section after house got it in bill. At that point what ever was in a bill was going to get passed, and it was all up to what the legislators decided to put in bill. The peoples only responsibility after that is primary challenges.

There was a meme that Rahm was right that the far left would come over without a public option, but the moderate democrats would have come over if there was a public option. It was all what they decided to put in the bill. And according to some news cast, the CBO actually wrote part of the bill, and did not just score it.

But anyway, you will notice many times that debate and discussion is created to purge, not really to debate, if there is a lock in 2012 for President Obama, most forces will want to throw up someone against Democrats to hurt their cause, knowing they will lose.

Considering how many Southern Republican Leadership Conference folks consider Mormonism a cult and call Massachusetts "Taxachusetts" it sounds like a decent showing.

Looks good for D's...:D

Of course, this is a million years away in the terms of political lifetimes, but as long as the Winguts keep acting like this, thisgs look good...:D

They must have more problems than even I thought...

That's great!


Yeah, guys, go with Mitt - he's so dynamic!

mark

in the weeks leading up to the Iowa caucus.

Sort of a Mitt-on-the-bus-to-Des Moines experience. Brit Hume can be conveniently embedded in the campaign bus to report the conversion live for FOX.

in their straw poll at their political action conference in February in Washington. It's going to be :popcorn: watching them duke it out, especially with Romneycare.

If that's the best he can do against Paul, and in light of:

(A) The uncanny match-up of his MA health care plan with Obama's and

(B) The unfortunate (for him) fact that the Tea Bag base is not going to vote for Mormon in anywhere near the numbers he needs

he's done, especially given his astonishing empty-suitness, even by GOP standards.

They need to nominate someone with business credentials who will claim to turn the economy around, assuming it has not been turned around before then. They also need someone who is not batshit crazy: despite what we may think of the popularity of folks such as Palin and Huckabee, they are not credible nationwide candidates for the presidency of the united states.

And the fact that Romney won in the south, albeit narrowly, shows that the Republican southern elite know this too.

Warren G. Harding
Harry S. Truman
Jimmy Carter
William Jefferson Clinton