Posted on 04/09/2007 9:32:45 PM PDT by Unmarked Package
The Beaufort County Republican Party held their convention this Saturday and conducted a Presidential preference straw poll. Here are the results:
Romney: 36 Giuliani: 24 Gingrich: 18 F. Thompson: 14 McCain: 5 Huckabee: 2 Tancredo: 2 Hunter: 1 T. Thompson: 1
Governor Romney gets the “Best Week Ever” award and appears to have some MO coming off the fundraising news cycle. Conversely, Senator McCain must be smarting a little from these results since he just visited Sun City in Beaufort which has a number of active GOPer’s. McCain is in danger of becoming the candidate formerly known as front-runner.
Wohoo!! Go speed racer, go speed racer, go speed racer go!!!
McCain-Feingold, Gang of 14...... chickens are coming home to roost, John.
You can say that again.
Ouch! That’s not a good result for my guy.
I forget who your guy is?
Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy. Bye Bye Johnny!
I'm afraid that a lot of voters are having that problem. (deep sigh) I'm still going to do what I can to change that situation. My favorite candidate at this point in Duncan Hunter (www.gohunter08.com). I also like Jim Gilmore a great deal because he has similar stands on the issues and real executive experience as governor of Virginia. If my primary were held tomorrow, I would vote for Duncan Hunter. People say, "He can't win," but my answer is that no one can win unless those who believe he's the best candidate will vote for him.
Realistically, I understand that when the primary comes to Louisiana on February 9, Mr. Hunter may be out of the race. The hard front-loading of the primaries means that no one will be able to build strength and momentum through a grassroots campaign. I think our state governments are doing a great disservice to the country by compressing the primary season too much. The fact that I think the front-loading scheme is a mistake won't stop it from happening.
Mitt Romney is one of the candidates that I would consider supporting if my favorites don't make it to the Louisiana primary with a reasonable chance of winning. I'm concerned about some of the things he's said about gun control over the years. I'm a bit concerned about his abortion positions, but in some ways, the positions he's taking now may be closer to mine than Mr. Hunter's are. I like his experience living as a citizen outside government and politics. I like his executive experience both outside government and as governor of Massachusetts. I'm concerned about having another Republican who's mindset is one of trying to react to the Democrats holding power. I still think we need Republicans who can seize power and move things, but if we get a Republican Congress, Mr. Romney is as likely to move things as any other candidate. I'm concerned that his Mormon faith may slightly suppress the strong evangelical Christian turnout that we need in order to win Congress, but all of the "top tier" candidates have issues that might hurt them with those voters. I think Mr. Romney has a personality and background that will allow him to win. He may not win Massachusetts, but his family's time in Michigan will give him a good chance to win that state. I think he matches well against Hillary's and Obama's negatives. I think any of the Republicans could have a match-up problem with Bill Richardson on a political basis, but Mr. Romney will win the charisma votes in that contest by a wide margin.
I think that's probably more than you wanted to hear.
The funny thing is that if Fred Thompson had entered the race a month ago, he likely would have destroyed the Romney campaign. At that time, Mitt Romney had little traction, and another popular name in the race might have cast too great a shadow for anything else to grow. Within a few months, I think Mr. Thompson's entry would knock Senator McCain out of the race. McCain is fading already, and one or two more setbacks might put him down. Of course, John Kerry looked to be in that situation in the summer of '03, and things changed when people started voting. Maybe we shouldn't be too confident of being rid of Mr. Keating 5 and Myers 14.
Bill
I have been looking for a second candidate. I like Rudy because I like Rudy - but I do not agree with his stands on so many issues.
I am beginning to look seriously at Romney. I will also wait to see if Thompson enters the race before I make up my mind.
Unlike you, I don't even like Rudy Giuliani on a personal level. Everything that I hear about him makes me distrustful of him on a personal level as well as a political level. I've made some harsh criticisms of President Bush, but I think he's a likeable person. I just can't feel that way about Mr. Giuliani. I give him credit for doing some good things in New York City. He made some good choices, and he was there to comfort people who liked him on a personal level.
You have plenty of time to decide on a backup candidate. Fred Thompson has strengths also, and I could be happy supporting him as well. While the emergence of another "mystery candidate" doesn't seem likely, I'm open to that possibility as well. If something happened to knock several of the frontrunners from the race, we might see someone join in the fall. While he has weaknesses at this point in our history and hasn't built a presidential resume, someone like J.C. Watts would fit that description. All of the Tennessee people are backing Fred Thompson, but Lamar Alexander wouldn't be a bad candidate. I think many of us wish that we'd run him in '96 instead of Bob Dole. I don't exactly like him on the issues, but he wouldn't be bad. Norm Coleman is another candidate that I wouldn't necessarily like but who would have some strength in a campaign.
Bill
Fred not showing badly for not being officially in the race.......
SC voters are conservative so I am heartened to see Romney eclipsing the field. These results include Mitt’s positive impact from his visits to the state under the arm of U.S. Senator DeMint(R), a conservative. McCain has the support of the other senator, Graham(RINO), and we all see how far that got him.
If Romney can pull himself up in the polls, I wouldn’t mind Thompson deciding not to run. So long as we have someone to knock Rudy off the podium.
Senator Jim DeMint's support has been a tremendous benefit to Mitt Romney in SC. It really helps that Sen. DeMint is also a hero to fiscal conservatives for his strong stands on reducing federal spending and reducing the size of government.
The latest remarks from DeMint about Romney in this video are very interesting:
Video: DeMint on Mitt Romney
I adore George W. Bush so if Thompson is a super-size version... yeah!
Yes, I really like Hunter too, and I could also support Thompson. Mitt is my first choice.
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