Santorum Accuses Romney of Buying CPAC Poll Win

Atlantic wire ^ | February 2nd | Seth Abramovitch

[Halfmanhalfamazing]

Appearing on CNN's State of the Union today, Rick Santorum told host Candy Crawley that his loss yesterday to Mitt Romney in CPAC's annual straw poll was because he didn't pay for votes. From Politico:

"Well, you know, those straw polls at CPAC... for years Ron Paul has won those because he trucks in a lot of people, pays for their tickets, and they come in and vote and they leave. We didn't do that, we don't do that. i don't try to rig straw polls."

Pressed further on whether or not he felt Romney had rigged the poll, Santorum said, "You have to talk to the Romney campaign and how many tickets they bought, we've heard all sorts of things."

[Halfmanhalfamazing]

[GoCards]

Well do we really think that Romney didnt buy tickets. No popcorn needed

[writer33]

We know he bought lots of tickets.

[Halfmanhalfamazing]

I would say there’s a distinct possibility that Romney *did* buy votes. He has admitted to being a progressive, we have the video. Romney likely has his own ACORN-ish outfit which goes out and commits all sorts of chicanery in order to help out the candidate.

Where the popcorn comes in is how the republican establishment is going to respond to this.

[CASchack]

Romney caught on to stacking the crowd during the second FL debate, so it wouldn’t at all surprise me to see that the Astroturf candidate did the same thing at CPAC.

Real conservatives won’t buy into Willard being “severely” conservative. Sorry—it doesn’t pass the smell test.

[BarnacleCenturion]

“Ron Paul has won those because he trucks in a lot of people, pays for their tickets”

This accusation is absurd. I’m no fan of Ron Paul but anybody who thinks he pays for his supporters is either delusional or a sore loser. Santorum may have become a multimillionaire working in Washington but Ron Paul has not.

[Cicero]

Ron Paul regularly buses in people to vote for him in the CPAC straw poll—and at similar events elsewhere.

I don’t know if he buys their tickets or not, but he organizes students and others, especially to come and vote for him.

Obviously Romney did the same thing. But he probably did buy many of them tickets. He has plenty of money to throw around.

[traderrob6]

Your naivete’ is exceeded by only your gullibility.

[txhurl]

Interesting: that’s a charge you can’t walk back or band-aid over later on.

Is that a scent of coalition in the air?

[Yaelle]

if romney would promise to legalize pot, he would’t have to pay for tickets either. baby interfering with grammar and typing

[Lazlo in PA]

Golly. The severe Conservative used his massive bank roll to stack the votes in his favor at CPAC.

[lonevoice]

You know, I wholeheartedly believe that Romney bought the CPAC poll. But, this article doesn’t support the headline. Santorum didn’t “accuse Romney of Buying CPAC Poll Win.” When asked if he believed that to be true, Santorum answered that only Romney’s campaign could answer that question. That falls short of an accusation.

[mtrott]

Hey, Gov. Huckabee’s not running, so why do you post his picture??!!

[ElkGroveDan]

There has been a deluge of pro-Romney money over the past years in Republican and conservative circles. I've seen many people and groups turn to support him who never, ever would have supported a moderate squish in years past. Some of these people I know very well and I've been flummoxed as to what they are doing. The only thing I can think of is that the skids are being greased behind the scenes. I predict that some time long after this race that fact will emerge as some kind of "looking back" scandal.

As for CPAC, Santorum has hit the nail on the head. It's not even a secret. Michael Huffington was doing that at California GOP conventions way back in 1994 and I'm sure it's gone on longer still.

[deport]

“Well, you know, those straw polls at CPAC... for years Ron Paul has won those because he trucks in a lot of people, pays for their tickets, and they come in and vote and they leave. We didn’t do that, we don’t do that. i don’t try to rig straw polls.”

---

Lest we forget.

2000 George W. Bush
2006 George Allen
2007 Mitt Romney
2008 Mitt Romney
2009 Mitt Romney
2010 Ron Paul
2011 Ron Paul
2012 Mitt Romney

[chooseascreennamepat]

You know, I wholeheartedly believe that Romney bought the CPAC poll. But, this article doesn’t support the headline. Santorum didn’t “accuse Romney of Buying CPAC Poll Win.” When asked if he believed that to be true, Santorum answered that only Romney’s campaign could answer that question. That falls short of an accusation.

Thank you. I went back through the entire thread to see where Santorum did any accusing. I couldn't find anything of the nature.

[redhead]

"Romney caught on to stacking the crowd during the second FL debate, so it wouldn’t at all surprise me to see that the Astroturf candidate did the same thing at CPAC."

Taking a page out of Ron Paul's playbook, looks like.

[C210N]

Speaking of the Severe Conservative.... and busing in folks...

what was going on about the hugh crowd reaction when Romeny talked about young folks who’ve read Burke and Hayek?

Did each candidate get to “bus in” their candidates into the audience for their respective speeches? It seemed that each audience was uniquely suited to the particular candidate on the stage.

The Burke/Hayek thing was so obviously crafted, to lead-in to Romeny explaining why Severe-conservatism only came very late (ie, yesterday) in life.

Is it “severe” because - well, if you are born/bread conservative, it just being “conservative”. But, if it occurs only yesterday, then you have to make up for all that lost time, and you become a “severe conservative”.

[Rick_Michael]

Kind of like how they didn’t pay union members to protest in front of CPAC...could never happen!? I don’t know if he did pay,but I wouldn’t put it past him.

[mquinn]

I agree. The Paulistas drink his kool-aid willingly, no money needs change hands.

[tinamina]

I don’t know whether or not Romney bought his votes but my first thought when I heard that CPAC was being held at the Marriott was that Mitt’s Mormon friends were in control. Was it held at the same hotel last time as well? Bit too close to a conspiracy theory I suppose.

I do wonder who got to count the votes? The win in Maine seems a bit fishy as well. Do we have no protection from the vote counters?

[chemicalman]

It’s true. Co-worker is big Ron Paul fan and does get free tickets to CPAC and SRLC as long as they vote in the straw poll. Free food and party afterwords.

[DainBramage]

Most at CPAC are locals or at least within the region. Not a true representation of the conservative vote and never will be.

[Vaquero]

CPAC has gone down hill since the Log-smuggling Republicans took over.

it should be a non entity for republicans and avoided like the plague.

[Vaquero]

your both wrong

here is his picture

[vg0va3]

Love the graphic.

No purchase necessary to win CPAC. The ACU is the HOME of the RINO establishment. Tickets were probably discounted for mittens.

[Arthur Wildfire! March]

“if romney would promise to legalize pot, he would’t have to pay for tickets either.”

Good point. Ron Paul has tons of pot-worshiping energy behind him, guys who like to drug or intoxicate their dates by hook or crook, creeps who like the option to kill accidents of conception, and party hounds who also want to reduce the odds of being drafted. It's a cult very similar to people with quaint sexual preferences — alienated, they fight like mad to share the respectability of people with traditional values. Highly energized useful idiots for the Frankfurt School who don't worry themselves too much about God and Country.

But to cut Santorum a little slack, it's difficult for anyone to discuss the true depth of various political machinations during an interview.