GOP Nominee
Former Candidates
Results from two of the three straw polls from South Carolina GOP County Conventions are in, and it’s more good news for Romney and a surprise victory for Duncan Hunter:
Anderson County
Hunter - 63 votes
Romney - 33
McCain - 9
Giuliani - 7
F Thompson - 5
Brownback - 4
Newt - 3
T Thompson - 3
Huckabee - 2
Cox - 2
Tancredo -0Pickens County
Romney - 16 votes
Hunter - 14
Giuliani - 13
McCain - 10
F Thompson - 9
Brownback - 9
Word has it that one of Duncan Hunter’s major consultants, Robert Cahaly, is from Anderson County and made a lot of personal phone calls there and personally attended the convention to talk with the delegates, which helps explain his surprise victory there. Romney continues to look solid throughout the state.
April 16th, 2007 at 8:54 pm
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April 16th, 2007 at 9:26 pm
Hunter’s result quite a surprise. He’s almost disappeared from the radar recently. Does anyone see any scenario where he becomes relevant?
Add the Pickens County (PC?) result to the list of proofs that Romney has a good ground game. He just needs to translate it into votes…
April 16th, 2007 at 9:32 pm
Just got back from the Pickens County Convention. Duncan Hunter made a personal appearance there and I beleive he also made a personal appearance at the Anderson County Convention earlier in the evening. He was the only candidate to attend either convention. In Pickens, Sen. Jim Demint spoke on behalf of Gov. Romney, and campaign reps spoke on behalf of Brownback, Giuliani, and McCain. Fred Thompson was not on the ballet in Pickens; all 9 of his votes were write-ins.
April 16th, 2007 at 9:42 pm
What are the value of straw polls? The poll size is so small that winning these doesn’t seem significant.
April 16th, 2007 at 9:47 pm
Hunter’s showing can’t be considered an aberration. He virtually tied with Rudy and McCain for first in the straw poll that coincided with CPAC, and now comes in 1st and 2nd in two more SC county straw polls. To answer JayPe’s question, can he become relevant? I’m not sure, but his message is certainly resonating with some S. Carolinians.
April 16th, 2007 at 10:13 pm
Hunter’s secret is to bring his son with him on the campaign trail. He readily admits that his son helped him to win the first straw poll in South Carolina.
April 17th, 2007 at 12:18 am
JF, usually straw polls should be taken with a very large grain of salt, however, with the opportunity to see dozens of straw polls from one state, we can analyze them all and look for trends or patterns.
So far, out of 10 SC straw polls, Romney has won 7 and finished second in the other three. He has always finished ahead of Giuliani and finished ahead of McCain 8 out of 10 times.
April 17th, 2007 at 10:11 am
The law of averages says that given enough samples, any amount of noise will cancel itself out. The South Carolina Straw Polls are important in that there are so many of them spread out over the whole state and within a reasonable time frame of each other. All by themselves, any one poll has little meaning. But when combined together, they add up.
Romney had a very good first week. It is certainly within the relm of possibilities that it was just a flash in the pan. We will have to wait for this week to play itself out before coming to any firm conclusion.