[freespirited]

Romney's campaign actively petitioned supporters to vote online whether or not they had attended the conference.

Does this mean anyone could vote? If so, you could make an argument that the ballot box was stuffed--and the real winner was Huck.

[inkling]

Romney has to be VERY nervous about Huckabee’s sudden rise, especially in Iowa. Mitt’s entire campaign is predicated on sealing up the religious right and taking the two early states.

[Laverne]

Here are the on-site results for the republicans. Source for these number is here:

http://www.frcaction.org/

Onsite Straw Poll Results

Mike Huckabee 488 51.26%
Mitt Romney 99 10.40%
Fred Thompson 77 8.09%
Tom Tancredo 65 6.83%%
Rudy Giuliani 60 6.30%
Duncan Hunter 54 5.67%
John McCain 30 3.15%
Sam Brownback 26 2.73%
Ron Paul 25 2.63%
Undecided 11 1.16%
Not Voting 7 0.74%

[bethtopaz]

Read more detailed results over at www.race42008.com. Yes, Huck won the on-site vote by a large margin, but he also encouraged his supporters to vote on-line also.

Congratulations to Huckabee!

And Congratulations to my guy, Mitt Romney, who came in second to Huckabee in the on-site voting!

[lesser_satan]

ping

[Spiff]

Which of the following candidates for President
would you most likely to vote for?

Mitt Romney	1595	27.62%
Mike Huckabee	1565	27.15%
Ron Paul	865	14.98%
Fred Thompson	564	9.77%
Undecided	329	5.70%
Sam Brownback	297	5.14%
Duncan Hunter	140	2.42%
Tom Tancredo	133	2.30%
Rudy Giuliani	107	1.85%
John McCain	81	1.40%
Not Voting	67	1.16%
Barack Obama	9	0.16%
Joe Biden	5	0.09%
Hillary Clinton	5	0.09%
John Edwards	4	0.07%
Dennis Kucinich	4	0.07%
Christopher Dodd	2	0.03%
Bill Richardson	2	0.03%
Mike Gravel	1	0.02%
Total	5,775	100%

[RasterMaster]

http://www.frcblog.com/2007/10/washington_briefing_straw_poll.html

Mitt Romney 1595 27.62%
Mike Huckabee 1565 27.15%
Ron Paul 865 14.98%
Fred Thompson 564 9.77%
Undecided 329 5.70%
Sam Brownback 297 5.14%
Duncan Hunter 140 2.42%

Mike Huckabee 488 51.26%
Mitt Romney 99 10.40%
Fred Thompson 77 8.09%
Tom Tancredo 65 6.83%%
Rudy Giuliani 60 6.30%
Duncan Hunter 54 5.67%

The first chart is total votes (those at the Washington Briefing and those voting online). The second chart is only those attending the WB in person.

[ellery]

Yeah, it looks like Huck won very decisively.

[Always Right]

Slightly better than an internet poll.

[A_Tradition_Continues]

Another stupid, wortless poll. How much money did the sponsoring organization make?

[Ingtar]

You had to donate a dollar to sign up. How do you think Ron Paul came in third?

[deport]

With the following info one can calculate the onsite percentages versus the online percentages if it matters that much. These polls represent the group that attends or the abilitiy of the candidate to push online voting via their internet activities.

Which of the following candidates for President
would you most likely to vote for?

Mitt Romney	1595	27.62%
Mike Huckabee	1565	27.15%
Ron Paul	865	14.98%
Fred Thompson	564	9.77%
Undecided	329	5.70%
Sam Brownback	297	5.14%
Duncan Hunter	140	2.42%
Tom Tancredo	133	2.30%
Rudy Giuliani	107	1.85%
John McCain	81	1.40%
Not Voting	67	1.16%
Barack Obama	9	0.16%
Joe Biden	5	0.09%
Hillary Clinton	5	0.09%
John Edwards	4	0.07%
Dennis Kucinich	4	0.07%
Christopher Dodd	2	0.03%
Bill Richardson	2	0.03%
Mike Gravel	1	0.02%
Total	5,775	100%

Onsite Straw Poll Results

Mike Huckabee	488	51.26%
Mitt Romney	99	10.40%
Fred Thompson	77	8.09%
Tom Tancredo	65	6.83%%
Rudy Giuliani	60	6.30%
Duncan Hunter	54	5.67%
John McCain	30	3.15%
Sam Brownback	26	2.73%
Ron Paul	25	2.63%
Undecided	11	1.16%
Not Voting	7	0.74%
Barack Obama	5	0.53%
Christopher Dodd	2	0.21%
Dennis Kucinich	2	0.11%
Joe Biden	1	0.11%
Hillary Clinton	0	0.00%
John Edwards	0	0.00%
Mike Gravel	0	0.00%
Bill Richardson	0	0.00%
Total	952	100%

[org.whodat]

Romney's campaign actively petitioned supporters to vote online whether or not they had attended the conference.

Whoopee! the mittwitts bought another straw poll, what bunch of con's!

[bw17]

“Does this mean anyone could vote? If so, you could make an argument that the ballot box was stuffed—and the real winner was Huck.”

In order to vote, you had to be a member of the FRC, and to become a member of the FRC, you need to make a monetary contribution. I doubt ballot-stuffing was an issue.

[WalterSkinner]

..I misunderstood the numbers in the beginning—Romney didn’t win, Huck did...

[finnman69]

http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/253694.aspx

Romney Wins Value Voter Straw Poll...Wait. Is Huckabee the Winner?
October 20, 2007

I’m not sure how to explain this. Let’s start with this. Technically, Mitt Romney won the big Value Voters Straw poll but it’s not that simple. The vote was open to people online and in that sense, Romney won with 1595 votes compared to Mike Huckabee’s 1565 votes. It was just a 30 vote difference. But for the people that actually voted onsite, it was no contest. Huckabee won 488 votes to Romney’s second place 99. That’s called a thumpin’. Look at the results here.

Here’s what I make of all of this. Romney might be able to claim victory but the onsite voting is a better barometer. Still, the press release the Family Research Council sent out says it’s Romney and doesn’t even mention the onsite polling. Read it here. We should point out that there’s already stories about emails circulating to pump the online vote for Romney. Read more here. Clearly, the people that actually heard the speeches thought Huckabee was the best candidate there. It would be one thing if Huckabee and Romney were neck and neck for onsite voting but for Huckabee to be such an overwhelming onsite winner, that is saying something.

Here’s what it says. It says that you have social conservatives that are ready to embrace him and he’s ready to embrace them. That speech he made on Saturday was electric. I was there. I saw the crowd. They ate it up. See more on Huckabee’s speech here. But let’s call a spade a spade. You have Evangelical leaders that are reluctant to back him because he’s having a hard time raising money and putting what they see as a top notch organization in place. He needs their support. He’s going to have to earn it. If social conservatives really want Huckabee so bad, then they’ll need to put their money where their mouths are.

Having said all that, Huckabee is poised now to really take off. Why? Two words: Sam Brownback. With Brownback out of the race, many of the votes may go to Huckabee. That could translate into some marginally better poll numbers. Plus, Huckabee can claim victory here and go around the country saying that social conservatives have spoken and that he’s the guy. Romney will make that same claim but don’t tell me for a second that the onsite margin differential doesn’t have some in the campaign concerned. Maybe because Huckabee is financially challenged, they’re not too worried.

It’s going to be interesting to watch the spin coming out of both the Huckabee and Romney camps. Each will claim victory. Each campaign will be right. Read more here and here.

By the way, in terms of onsite polling, Fred Thompson finished with 77 votes after people heard him speak. Rudy Giuliani finished with 60 votes. I think the Giuliani team will take that number and as for the Thompson number, I’m sure they were hoping to do better than that.

The story today is Huckabee.

[JohnBovenmyer]

You had to become a member of their group to vote, which took a contribution. I'm told a $1 contribution would suffice, so not a very large barrier. Subtraction provides these offsite voting totals:

Mitt Romney	1496
Mike Huckabee	1077
Ron Paul	840
Fred Thompson	487
Sam Brownback	271
Duncan Hunter	86
Tom Tancredo	68
John McCain	51
Rudy Giuliani	47

Although unscientific some things can be inferred from these and the above numbers. First, Rudy didn't make a very strong impression, at least not as the first choice, of those attending and didn't feel it worth any effort to stuff the results offsite. The same can be said for McCain. Second, Romney and Huckabee, at the least, deserve recognition for out stuffing Ron Paul on this poll. Third, there is nothing here that the Fred Heads can use for bragging points over their competition for the title of either "the social conservative" candidate or even "the southern social conservative" candidate. He was beaten on and offsite by both Romney and Huckabee. So much for Fred as an internet powerhouse; Romney tripled his take and Huckabee doubled it. A good showing at this media hyped conference would doubtless have been touted by Fred Heads as evidence their man was THE option to Rudy. Instead they'll have to listen to Romney and Huckabee both make such claims. And, since Mitt has money to spin his case and Mike doesn't, Romney's spin will win out. For better or worse, this is the most hyped straw poll since Iowa and Mitt got a lot of mileage there. This will move him up somewhat, and mainly from the undecideds and Fred leaners. Huckabee will use this to keep his hopeless campaign alive longer, again mainly at Fred's expense.

[Grunthor]

“No vote count has been announced for Rudy Giuliani.”

That bad?

[Hattie]

I must not be a “values voter” if Ron Paul scored third in this.

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

When Ron Paul Loses Straw Polls:

"Ha! Ron Paul's a kook who couldn't get elected dog catcher! He's low in the polls, no chance of winning!"

When Ron Paul Wins Straw Polls

"George Soros is paying the Paulites to spam these polls, plus Code Pink is recruiting new members too! These straw polls don't mean nothing anyway."

[Petronski]

Mitt Romney won the Family Research Council Values Voters' Summit straw poll in Washington Saturday, barely beating out Mike Huckabee with just 30 more votes.

HUGE LOSS for Willard.

LOL

Thirty votes?