Ron Paul Takes CPAC Straw Poll for Second Year

Ron Paul wins CPAC

Ron Paul won the presidential straw poll at CPAC with Mitt Romney finishing further back in second. What does that mean? Complete results of the CPAC straw poll and commentary on the victory.

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COMPLETE CPAC PRESIDENTIAL STRAW POLL RESULTS

Texas Congressman Ron Paul won the presidential straw vote at the CPAC Saturday. The vote, which is a poor predictor of electoral success, is nevertheless a victory for the Paulian forces.

Paul garnered 30% of the votes of the attendees, with Mitt Romney coming in a distant second with 23%. New Jersey governor, Chris Christie, and former NM governor, Gary Johnson finished far behind with 6% each.

Complete result of the CPAC straw poll further down in this article.

The Washington Post’s lead got it exactly right about the poor predictive qualities of the CPAC vote. The lead was dismissive but accurate.

Ron Paul wins CPAC straw poll again

Rep. Ron Paul (R-Tex.) won the always-anticipated, rarely predictive presidential straw poll Saturday at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, but he did so with less than a third of the vote – a result that suggested the energy of conservative activists at the gathering has not coalesced behind a single candidate.

Winning for the second year in a row, Paul carried about 30 percent of the 3,742 votes cast. Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney came in second with about 23 percent. Beyond that the vote splintered, with no potential candidate rising above the single digits.

The complete results of the CPAC straw poll are as follows.

Ron Paul – 30%
Mitt Romney – 23%
Gary Johnson (former NM governor) – 6%
Chris Christie (NJ governor) -6%
Newt Gingrich – 5%
Tim Pawlenty (MN governor) – 4%
Michelle Bachman (MN Congresswoman) – 4%
Mitch Daniels (IN governor) – 4%
Sarah Palin – 3%
Herman Cain (former Godfather’s Pizza CEO) – 2%
Mike Huckabee – 2%
Rick Santorum (former PA Senator) – 2%
John Thune (SD Senator) – 2%
Jon Huntsman (former UT governor) – 1%
Haley Barbour (MS governor) – 1%
OTHER – 5%
Undecided – 1%

One wonders how many votes “None of the Above”–if that had been a choice–would have received.

Walter Shapiro had an original–which is not to say a non-spinning–take on the CPAC results. Shapiro put a dizzying spin on the CPAC gathering as a victory for Indiana governor and former Bush administration official, Mitch Daniels–due to the Hoosier’s speech.

Although Ron Paul won the straw poll, Shapiro concentrated on everyone but the Texas Congressman.

CPAC 2011 — The Only Winners Were Mitch Daniels and Ron Paul

By far, the most important speech at CPAC was delivered by two-term Gov. Mitch Daniels of Indiana at Friday night’s banquet. It was an eloquently crafted, intellectually compelling call to arms against the red-ink forces of the national debt. Daniels, who was George W. Bush’s budget director, proposed dramatically revamping Social Security and Medicare as he called for “an affectionate thank you to the major social welfare programs of the last century.”

What was most striking about Daniels’ speech, which inspired careful listening rather than pep-rally applause, was that it treated his CPAC audience as adults rather than as just another constituency group demanding pandering. Whether it was dismissing the easy-answer attacks on earmarks (“in the cause of national solvency, they are a trifle”) or suggesting that most voters do not appreciate the sharp-edged rhetoric of the Republican right (“it would help if they liked us, just a bit”), Daniels’ speech was an exercise in speaking truth to conservatives who have the power to derail a presidential candidacy.

Shapiro earlier made the comment that the GOP race was so wide open that “Bob Dole at age 87 might have a plausible chance for a comeback.” The writer might have added that Mitch Daniels is every bit as inspiring as Dole.

February 2011: more than 20 months away from the 2012 presidential elections and the GOP field is completely wide open. As in 2008, there are a plethora of Republican candidates–not many of which excite the electorate. Ron Paul is one of the exceptions; Sarah Palin is another.

It’s to be hoped that 2012 will bring the Republicans a better representative for president than 2008 did. John McCain somehow emerged as the winner after almost the entire Republican field showed their dedication by dropping out early in the contest.

John McCain excited no one.

Actually, that’s not completely true: the group most excited by McCain is now a blogger for the Daily Beast.

At least Ron Paul creates more excitement among his followers.

MORE: Fox News has its own poll–just in time for the CPAC news. How thoughtful! And the good folks at Fox would have us believe that among the people they polled, 23% preferred Donald Trump?!? And Ron Paul didn’t make the list?!? But John Thune and Jon Huntsman did?!? Fox says that it gave registered voters “a list of names” and asked them to pick one. Some list?!?

My my.

Many more polls like this one and one may have to start taking the folks at Media Matters a little more seriously about some of their claims about Fox.

Fox Poll: Huckabee, Romney Top 2012 GOP Field

Mike Huckabee — 55 percent
Mitt Romney — 54
Newt Gingrich — 43
Sarah Palin — 40
Jeb Bush — 39
Donald Trump — 23
Chris Christie — 29
Tim Pawlenty — 21
Haley Barbour — 16
Michele Bachmann — 16
Rick Santorum — 15
Mitch Daniels — 13
John Thune — 12
Jon Huntsman — 10

by Mondo Frazier
image: DBKP file

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