Straw Poll Blog

Huckabee Beat Romney in FRC Straw Poll, Sort Of

Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney may have been declared the straw-poll victor in Saturday’s Family Research Council conference in Washington, Huckabee supporters say their candidate really won the ballot.

In fact, among folks who actually attended the event, Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee was indeed the runaway favorite.

According to the results announced by the FRC, Romney garnered 5,775 votes in its Values Voter Straw Poll to narrowly edge out fellow GOP hopeful Huckabee.

But thousands of those Romney votes came not from audience members at the debate, but rather from online voters. Many paid as little as $1 for the right to vote on the Web, according to Politico.com.

Read more. . .

Values straw poll show where GOP candidates stand in '08 election

Republican candidates spent the past weekend convincing voters at the Family Research Council's Values Voters Summit in Washington D.C. that values would be a priority in their presidency.

According to an Oct. 20 cnn.com article, Romney was the victor of the values straw poll with 28 percent followed closely behind by former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee. Ron Paul took 3rd place with 15 percent, and Fred Thompson had 10 percent support of voters. Rudy Giuliani received 2 percent of the vote, and Sen. John McCain finished with only 81 votes.

Although the numbers appear to make Romney the favorite for the GOP nomination, Mclean County Chairman for the Republican Party, John W. Parrott, was unsure of how accurate the straw poll was.

"This particular straw poll and the way it was calculated could be misleading for Romney," Parrott said explaining that unlike other straw polls, voters did not have to be present to participate.

"The real votes were the ones at the convention. It is very clear that Mike Huckabee is really getting traction among value voters," Parrott added.

Cont. . .
Matt Spialek w/ The Daily Vidette

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Romney camp stacking the Values Voter straw-poll

They are taking a straw-poll of voter sentiment among the couple of thousand people expected today and tomorrow at the "Values Voter Summit'' in Washington, but voting isn't limited to people in the ballroom. And the campaign of Mitt Romney, who has a lot at stake here, has figured that out.

Romney, who will address the conference this evening, is a Mormon. He also is a relative latecomer to the "pro-life'' cause of preventing abortion.

With one in four of the evangelical Protestants who comprise a significant share of the Republican vote reluctant to vote for a Mormon -- as surveys show -- and with Romney having to convince supporters that his anti-abortion convictions today are strong and true, the former governor of Massachusetts has some selling to do here. But with the party's front-runner, Rudy Giuliani, a supporter of abortion-rights, Romney and other Republicans appearing here also have a certain momentum on their sides heading into that straw-poll on Saturday.

Read More. . . The Baltimore Sun

Oct 17, 2007

Democrats prepare for presidential straw poll
The Argus, CA - Oct 16, 2007
By Aaron Kinney, STAFF WRITER SAN MATEO — SAN MATEO — San Mateo County Democrats will gather in San Mateo this weekend for a presidential straw poll and fundraiser, as the local Democratic Party prepares for California's new presidential primary date in February.
The star attraction of Sunday's event, which is expected to raise more than $25,000, will be U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, the only presidential candidate who has agreed to appear in person. Representatives for four other candidates, including frontrunner Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., are scheduled to speak on their behalf. . . .