Romney wins straw poll. "Ron Paul's fans were crushed. 'That's not legit!'"

By GottaLaff

It's time for the results of the big SRLC straw poll! Drum roll....

Can you stand the suspense?

Drum roll continues....

Is this taking too much time? Can you even stand it? Ready? Ready?? It's a squeaker!

Romney took 439 votes (24 percent) to Paul's 438 votes (also 24 percent), a result that disappointed a Paul-heavy crowd that had stuck around to watch the results. Sarah Palin came in third with 330 votes (18 percent), and Newt Gingrich came in fourth with 321 votes (18 percent); Mike Huckabee, who did not attend the event, scored 4 percent. Total ballots cast: 1,806.

Willard Romney by a coiffed hair!

Losey McThirdPlace will have to make do with her two Tee Vee shows, her truckloads of cash, her screeches, er, speeches, her ghost written books, and her ghost written Facebook blog. I mean, come on, she shouldn't be piggy. Nobody can have it all, even with a ClusterFox contract.

To be fair, Willard did have a little help. Evangelicals for Mitt bought about 200 tickets, 800 copies of Willard's book, plus 2,000 piggy banks with the logo "Evangelicals for Mitt" on them.

Paul's fans were crushed. "That's not legit!" one fan yelled when the votes were announced.

Go here for more little tidbits-o'-fun!

"CPAC organizers were plainly embarrassed by the results" of straw poll

By GottaLaff

Via Taegan:

Politico: "CPAC organizers were plainly embarrassed by the results, which could have the effect of reducing the perceived impact of a contest that was once thought to offer a window into which White House hopefuls were favored by movement conservatives."

Because, you know, the attendees didn't already embarrass themselves before the straw poll results were announced.

At 31% Ron Paul wins CPAC straw poll, Palin? 7%

By GottaLaff

Just in via CNN:

Ron Paul won the CPAC straw poll.

Via Greg Mitchell:

Fox anchor says "amazing how much support Ron Paul has, I've never seen a politician with such a strong organization." No, not a joke.

Poor Mitt Willard Romney. His winning streak is over.

Results via Mike Madden:

Straw poll at #CPAC10:

Ron Paul wins with 31%,
Mitt Romney 22%,
Sarah Palin 7%,
Tim Pawlenty 6%,
Mike Pence 5%,
Newt Gingrich 4%.

Losey McSevenPercent comes in third. And Newtie? Yeah, no.

Then again, these things don't mean much. But it is fun to snark about.

HuckaWinner

By GottaLaff

In a landslide!

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee won the Values Voter straw poll with 170 out of 597 votes.

How's Willard going to live this down?

In a telling, but non-scientific, survey of the Republican Party’s social conservative base, former Gov. Mike Huckabee (R-Ark.) won the 2009 Values Voter straw poll with a 28 percent plurality of the vote. Five-hundred and ninety-seven people voted. [...]

Huckabee led eight other potential Republican candidates: Romney placed second with 12.4 percent, while Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-Minn.) polled 12.23 percent, Sarah Palin polled 12.06 percent, and Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) polled 11.89 percent. People included in the poll who didn’t the top five: Rep. Ron Paul (R-Tex.), Gov. Bobby Jindal (R-La.), Newt Gingrich, and Rick Santorum.

Are the Rushpublics willing to support someone as, um, "liberal" as HuckaFriedSquirrel?

Romney wins CPAC straw poll; Palin? Tied for 3rd behind... Jindal

By GottaLaff

Ba-ba-ba-Bobby beat Limelight Sarah? After that speech? Neither of them showed up to CPAC, so that most likely played it. Meanwhile, looks like the Ken Doll reflects the GOP's inability to cope with a very popular President Obama:

In one of the opening skirmishes in the long – and almost certainly bloody – GOP battle for the 2012 nomination, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney won the annual Conservative Political Action Convention straw poll Saturday.

While hardly a scientific poll, the CPAC straw vote offers early insight into conservatives’ thinking as Republicans find themselves shut out of power in the White House and Congress for the first time in 16 years. And Romney's victory will give some credence to growing sentiment that he has quietly put himself in strong position for the 2012 contest after losing to John McCain last year.

Romney took 20 percent of the vote, followed by Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal with 14 percent, Texas Rep. Ron Paul with 13 percent, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin with 13 percent, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich with 10 percent and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee with 7 percent. Others on the ballot included South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and Florida Gov. Charlie Crist. Nine percent were undecided.

Total disarray. Let's hope they run Rush. That would be splendid.

Mike Duncan dealt blow at RNC meeting

By GottaLaff

Oh-h, suh-nap!

What was supposed to be a boon for Republican National Committee Chairman Mike Duncan turned into a bust Tuesday when a group widely seen as aiding his reelection campaign canceled a planned straw poll at the last minute.

Meeting in Washington, the Conservative Steering Committee, a group of 90 conservative members of the RNC, spent Tuesday interviewing all six major candidates for chairman. But members voted to reject a straw poll, which was supposed to gauge whether the group deemed candidates conservative enough to lead the RNC.

Though Indiana national committeeman Jim Bopp Jr., who organized the steering committee, has told The Hill that the group admits members regardless of their chairman preference, the straw poll had been seen as a vehicle for Duncan supporters who were aiming to give his candidacy a boost with just three weeks to go before RNC members vote. A victory in the straw poll might have given Duncan the ability to claim an early lead in advance of the Jan. 31 vote.

Seen as perilous for most candidates, the straw poll died at the hands of an alliance of attendees backing former Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele and former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell. Duncan backers largely supported the straw poll, while those backing other candidates split, according to sources who were present.

He was just grasping at straws, I guess.