Posted on 08/14/2007 4:18:51 AM PDT by monomaniac
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Mitt Romney won the Ames straw poll on Saturday in what was a preview of the strength of some of the candidates seeking the Republican nomination for president. With Rudy Giuliani, John McCain and Fred Thompson not participating, Romney won the non-binding vote with the support of 31 percent of Republicans.
Mike Huckabee came in a surprising second with 18 percent and Sam Brownback placed third with 15 percent.
In an interview after the straw poll, Romney told reporters that the event was a success even though three of the other top contenders didn't compete.
"I think if they thought they could have won, they would have been here," Romney said on Fox News Sunday. "If you can't compete in the heartland, if you can't compete in Iowa in August, how are you going to compete in January when the caucuses are held, and how are you going to compete in November of '08?"
Romney, who says he became pro-life on the issue of abortion and embryonic stem cell research a couple of years ago, was expected to win the contest because he spent heavily organizing for it.
Huckabee surprised some of the other second-tier candidates to grab the second spot while spending very little leading up to the statewide event.
"It wasn't just that we surprised people with a second showing, it's that we did it with so few resources," Huckabee said Sunday. "This really was feeding the 5,000 with two fish and five loaves."
Meanwhile, Sam Brownback said his third place finish was enough to keep a strong campaign going until the caucuses, which will likely be held in early January. He also said he believed Romney hit a ceiling with his level of support and that he can continue to get backing from a sizable number of pro-life voters.
Rep. Tom Tancredo of Colorado and Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, both of whom are pro-life, finished in fourth and fifth place and will likely continue their uphill campaigns.
On the other hand, former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson finished in sixth place and has already indicated he will drop out of the presidential campaign.
Hopefully, this will put a stop to this Iowa straw-poll nonsense. This race for “relevence” among the states in the nomination process, is going to destroy grass roots politics and put the capstone on annointment by big-money and the MSM (like it needs one).
The Iowa Straw Poll and Iowa Caucuses are the best defense against the big money and MSM machines. If we were to go to a "national primary" as some suggest, candidates without huge money would be completely unable to compete.
The “race for relevence” is precisely about heading toward a national primary. If all of the states are first, they are, necessarily, at exactly the same time.
Romney hired 38 busses to transport people to the straw-poll (hard to say who payed their “entrance” fee). And he had the freedom (financial) to spend a lot more time in Iowa than people who actually have a job. I believe that money, and his money is big, had a great deal to do with Romney’s “overwhelming” victory.
Brownback spent quite a bit of money also. Huckabee is the real mystery, though I’m sure someone will be able to explain that before too long.
Actually it was 125 buses. The Romney campaign paid for their tickets. The Brownback campaign brought in 100 busloads and spent a fortune as well, though probably not quite as much as the Romney campaign. The Huckabee campaign bought tickets for their supporters but did not provide busing (or at least not much of it); they just got a lot of votes.
The “race for relevence” is precisely about heading toward a national primary. If all of the states are first, they are, necessarily, at exactly the same time.
Very true; Iowa didn't start the latest race to the front of the line, but is trying to protect the place it's had for decades.
I have a friend (Ron Paul supporter) who traveled to Iowa. He was floored by all the Romney busses. He took a video phone clip of it. Bus after Bus after Bus. It speaks of Romney;s organizational skills. In April an artilce on FR was posted that told how he chartered all the in-state commercial busses available so his opponents had to pay more for out of state busses.
He supports the Fair Tax, and the Fair Tax people supported him big time.
Thank you both for the good info. It would appear to me that all they proved in the Iowa straw-poll, was how little it relates to anyone’s chances in the real elections. Of course, one can never discount the overall effect of huge amounts of campagn funds.
I don’t know.
If a candidate couldn’t get 2,000 or 3,000 people out to the state fair in August I’m not sure how they are going to get 20,000 to 30,000 to the caucus in January (or possibly December). That’s why Tommy Thompson called it a campaign.
Romney impressed because he has an organization and Huckabee was suprisingly strong because he adopted the Fair Tax. Huck just snuck into the top tier, making it a 5 man race, IMHO.
Agreed. Which is why it should be noted that Romney's message connected well with Iowa straw poll voters. For comparison his "message" connected as well as the current sitting President's did in the 2004 straw poll.
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