Posted on 09/23/2007 7:53:18 AM PDT by Spiff
Mackinac Island, MI-
Gov Mitt Romney won the Michigan Republican Leadership Conference straw poll, receiving 39 % of the 979 votes cast.
Sen. John McCain came in second with 27%, followed by Rep. Ron Paul with 10.8%.
The straw poll, sponsored by the Hotline, was held this Friday and Saturday on Mackinac Island.
Frmr New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani was close behind Paul, taking 10.62%. Frmr Sen. Fred Thompson took 7%. All five spoke before conference attendees this weekend, as did Rep. Duncan Hunter, who took 1% of the vote. Mike Huckabee and Sam Brownback were scheduled to appear, but cancelled on Friday.
The Michigan Republican party unofficially certified the straw poll results.
Only conference registrants who were Michigan residents were eligible to vote.
Final results are below:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE—September 23, 2007
CONTACT: Amy Walter (202) 280-0675
S. Brownback
3
.31%
Rudy Giuliani
104
10.62%
M. Huckabee
25
2.55%
D. Hunter
12
1.23%
J. McCain
260
26.56%
R. Paul
106
10.83%
M. Romney
383
39.12%
T. Tancredo
0
0%
F. Thompson
70
7.15%
Uncomm
16
1.63%
Good news. Michigan is a critical state.
Congrats Mitt! Keep pushing for change in the party—fiscal restraint, enforcing immigration laws, and ethical high standards— and you will start to win more people over.
Another great speech from Romney, based on substance, vision, ideas, and ideals.
Competence on steroids? You betcha!
Mitt Romney has been out in front on almost every issue...I could barely keep up with him this week alone.
Go Mitt!
Competence on steroids? You betcha!
Mitt Romney has been out in front on almost every issue...I could barely keep up with him this week alone.
Go Mitt!****
Romney’s speech was pretty good, but anyone can mouth platitudes or have a good speech writer. To me, Romney is a weather vane, changing directions depending on which way the wind is blowing. Of course the same thing could be said about almost all the other Republican and Democratic candidates, except Ron Paul. I ran for election once and, sad to say, I tailored my message depending on the group I was meeting with. Nothing against my core beliefs, but what they wanted to hear, as far as rationally possible.
Mitt bump!
Is the Republican Leadership Conference related to the Republican Leadership Council?
The Republican Leadership Council is the home of Christine Todd Whitman and the RINOs. I am on their mailing list. These types would have little room for guys like Huckabee, Brownback, Hunter, Tancredo or even Thompson.
Sample recent e-mailing:
Can you believe they did that??
Centrist Republicans are under attack once again – this time in Idaho, where social fundamentalists are attempting to purge people out of the party. They are doing so in order to attain greater “purity” within the Republican
Party.
A recent article in the Idaho Statesman http://www.idahostatesman.com/richert/story/124134.html explains that social fundamentalist activists have “given up even being subtle about it.”
If you or a friend is a Republican voter in Idaho, make sure to express your support for the big-tent philosophy. Purging people is never good for our party and these are the type of internal party squabbles that have diminished our party in the past – we must not let it happen again.
2007 Candidates
The Republican Leadership Council will soon be announcing our endorsed candidates for the 2007 elections! In 2006, despite a bad year for Republicans, 65 of the RLC’s candidates won their campaigns. We look forward to improving on that record this year.
If you know of a candidate who deserves our support, encourage them to apply. Additional information, as well as our candidate survey, can be found HERE.
Tell us what you think!
The Republican Leadership Council always strives to bring you the latest news and information important to centrist Republicans. For insightful reactions to today’s news and political campaigns, be sure to check out our BLOG and let us know what you think. If you would like to be a contributor to the blog, please email heather@republican-leadership.com.
No. Not at all.
Sure, Romney won, but just wait until Fred actually ANNOUNCES, then he’ll clean up.
Oh, wait, he did announce. Never mind.
It could be that they listened to Romney’s speech, and believed that he meant it.
On most issues, Romney’s saying the right thing. A lot of conservatives have trouble believing him, but at least he’s saying mostly what we want to hear.
Fred Thompson is not talking the talk that will keep the conservatives on his side. His comments on CFR, along with his comments about why he doesn’t go to church, could turn off both the social conservatives and the small-government conservatives.
If Thompson is our nominee, I’ll be with him. I had just hoped for more from him. Meanwhile, my preferred candidate, while not getting any more traction in national polls, does appear to be coming on in state-by-state polls and is saying and doing mostly the right things.
“I don’t have to tell you that my Dad made a mark on Michigan. And he made a mark on me. And I guess that is at the heart of things; he’s a big part of why I’m running for President today. In 1957, when he was the President of America n Motors, he gave a speech in which he reported the following conversation:
“’My nine year old son’ – that would be me – ‘came home from school and said “Mom, we really build the best cars, don’t we?”’
“She said, ‘Why Mitt, of course we do. Why do you ask?’
“’Well, if we build the best cars, why is it that less than three percent of the people agree with us?’
“After my Dad heard of this conversation, he took me aside and said, ‘Look, Mitt, size doesn’t always indicate strength and popularity doesn’t always indicate truth, and sales volume doesn’t always indicate value.’
“And then he added: ‘Right always prevails.’
Son learned well: He has had liberal positions, and pretends he is a conservative.
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