The Candidates
The results from last night’s county conventions in South Carolina:
Richland County
Romney - 41%
Brownback - 14%
Giuliani - 12%
McCain - 11%
Huckabee - 11%
Hunter - 8%
Cox - 1%(122 votes cast)
Greeneville County
Romney - 31%
Huckabee - 26%
Hunter - 21%
Giuliani - 8%
Brownback - 5%
McCain - 4%
Cox - 2%
Tancredo - 1%
Thompson, Gilmore, Paul - less than 1%(421 votes cast)
Some notes:
Romney, Giuliani, Brownback, Huckabee, Hunter, and Cox all attended and spoke at the Richland County Convention. Frank Keating was in Richland speaking on behalf of McCain. Romney, Huckabee, and Hunter then all made it to the Greeneville County Convention to speak as well.
These two wins give Romney first place finishes in 10 out of 16 straw polls for which we can find results. McCain has 4 first place finishes, Hunter has one, and Cox has one.
[UPDATE: There was also a straw poll of sorts in Spartanburg County last night, and Huckabee took first. The participants were asked to give each candidate either 1, 3, or 5 points on each of 5 issues, then points were tallied from every response. Huckabee ended up with 3,522; Giuliani with 3,161; Hunter 3,090; Romney 2,972; Brownback 2,931; Cox 2,456; and McCain 2,027.]
April 22nd, 2007 at 8:11 am
[...] post by HeavyM and software by Elliott [...]
April 22nd, 2007 at 8:24 am
That is a large gap between 1st and 2nd place…41-14%..Wow..
April 22nd, 2007 at 8:47 am
Since nobody posted them up, I guess its a good place to post that F. Thompson won PA straw polls and Lancasaster County.
local.lancasteronline.com/4/203158
savethegop.com/2007/04/21/fred-wins-pa-straw-polls/
Also: Oklahoma State Convention Straw Poll-
Here are the top four candidates:
Fred Thompson: 32.5%
Newt Gingrich: 15.2%
Rudy Giuliani: 9.4%
Tom Tancredo: 8.6%
(No official links)
April 22nd, 2007 at 9:44 am
Going from Tommy’s Lancaster County straw pole of 50 people, it’s probable that Mitt hasn’t been there or he would be at least in the top 4. I checked on Mitt’s website for Lancaster and it is not listed. The man makes for a favorible impression every where he goes for a good reason. People see he has a plan and is very capable and willing to help them out. Blogs I have read on other links who think he is an “empty suit” don’t know much more about him yet that what the liberal press feeds them.
April 22nd, 2007 at 9:58 am
Still interesting that you didn’t post Spartanburg County which Huckabee took with a commanding lead.
And the gap in percentages is big between 41% and 14% but it amounts to less than 30 votes in that particular poll.
Also, it is interesting to note that while Romney might have placed first in these strawpolls, Huckabee placed well in all of them and won some or came in a very close second, and he hasn’t hired a bunch of people to go and vote for him in the polls. Nor has he spent millions trying to scare the rest of the field out of the race. Romney
is not the big kahuna he would have the rest of us believe.
April 22nd, 2007 at 10:40 am
James Boulder, you should not be surprised how well the good and virtue men and women would do, once they get close to people. So, yes, Huckabee, Brownback, T. Thompson, Hunter and more, are all good men who have strong interest in serving this wonderful country. And you cannot miss this standing in the same room as any of these men. Unfortunately, it is not enough to have the desire to serve. You also must have a strong organizational skill and ability to preserve the passion of the people. So, yes, they all are great, but they are struggling to establish the basic foundation at this time. I hope some of them will be able to come up with something concrete soon! The more good men we have, the more accountability each of the candidate would have to answer to during the campaign, the better we will know these leaders we will end up with. Let us not forget the admonition Paul gave to Philips (Philips 4:8). So, let us look at all virtuous men and women (no, Hillary is not under this catalog!).
April 22nd, 2007 at 10:54 am
I also want to add that for me, it is surprisingly great to see South Carolinians, many of them being evangelicals, would be willing to look beyond Romney’s “Mormon Factor”. So, whether Mitt actually wins (or deserve) these straw polls, at least these people are showing that MSM is wrong, in that the people in America, other than liberals, are not shallow!
April 22nd, 2007 at 11:03 am
What facts do you have, James Boulder, for claiming that Mitt “has hired a bunch of people to go and vote for him tin the poles”? I believe it’s more like Mitt being at these counties, sharing his vision and people seeing hope has drawn the people and the votes to him.
April 22nd, 2007 at 12:10 pm
Read the reports from people who are there. Take a look at some SC political activists blogs where they discuss what I am talking about. The same things are being said in Iowa as well. Lets look at the recent StrawPoll where he paid for and brought in people from Michigan to vote for him. His own campaign admitted that. Everybody but you can’t be wrong.
April 22nd, 2007 at 12:33 pm
Straw polls are insignificant in the overall race, at this point. Support from those not personally involved with the campaigns can flip-flop (ok, I know, bad joke). These take place to early to make much difference in the final tally next year. When I posted the Lancaster County poll, the point was that it’s only a straw poll (not to mention that Lancaster County is Mennonite and Amish), in a sparsely populated county.
April 22nd, 2007 at 2:38 pm
Does one have to be registered to vote in order to vote in a straw poll? What are rules for most straw polls?
April 22nd, 2007 at 2:43 pm
The only Straw Poll in the nation that counts is the Iowa straw poll. And even there It is possible that Fred does not complete in it but still wins Iowa Caucus later on.
My Theory is that Fred should sit back and wait. If you get in now you completing to catch up to the Brownback’s of the world. Let say the top three are Romney/Rudy/McCain then Huckabee and Tommy will drop out and Brownback will even do so or his supports will back someone else to stop one of the top three, hence you come in with a base to start. Get in now and come in behind Brownback or one of the others then you will have trouble picking them up later on.
April 22nd, 2007 at 3:15 pm
“Still interesting that you didn’t post Spartanburg County which Huckabee took with a commanding lead.”
What are you talking about, James? There was no Spartanburg straw poll last night. Spartanburg did their straw poll a couple months ago and McCain won it, not Huckabee.
“Also, it is interesting to note that while Romney might have placed first in these strawpolls, Huckabee placed well in all of them and won some or came in a very close second, and he hasn’t hired a bunch of people to go and vote for him in the polls.”
Um, every candidate works these conventions (except McCain), and nobody hires folks to vote for them in the straw polls. In most, if not all of the conventions, you have to be a member to vote in a straw poll. So unless you’re suggesting Romney is paying off party officials or members of local parties just keep your baseless accusations to yourself.
And Huckabee hasn’t places well in all of the straw polls. In fact, he’s done pretty poorly:
1st place finishes - 0
2nd place- 2
3rd - 0
4th - 1
5th - 2
6th - 2
Lower than 6th - 9
April 22nd, 2007 at 3:17 pm
That should say, “unless you’re suggesting, and have hard evidence that Romney…”
April 22nd, 2007 at 3:24 pm
this is good news and i hope the trend continues down there in SC.
April 22nd, 2007 at 3:46 pm
There was no Spartanburg straw poll last night
—
To clear this up there was a straw poll in Spartanburg last night 700 people attended here is the CNN Story:
About 700 people participated and awarded the candidates one, three or five points. Huckabee finished first with 3,522 points, Giuliani came in second with 3,161, followed by Hunter with 3,090 and Romney with 2,972. Brownback earned 2,931 points, Cox had 2,456 and McCain got 2,027.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/04/21/s.c.straw.poll/index.html
April 22nd, 2007 at 4:04 pm
Cox placing 6th to go along with his earlier win. This is really encouraging for his momentum can go nowhere but up.
April 22nd, 2007 at 4:15 pm
James and JL - my apology. I stand corrected. According to other news reports about the polls, there was no straw poll in Spartanburg, and my Google searches only brought up the one from two months ago. I will update the main story accordingly.
April 22nd, 2007 at 4:49 pm
One can argue whether or not that is an actual straw poll what was the 1, 3, and 5 based on their speech or level of support?
April 22nd, 2007 at 5:16 pm
JL, I agree - it sounded like from the article it was based on their speech (something about how they “dealt with the issues” or something). That also explains why other articles said there was no straw poll.
April 22nd, 2007 at 5:38 pm
Instead they should have asked…
How sure are you that is the candidate you are supporting that might be even better.
April 22nd, 2007 at 7:24 pm
Do they ask that question at straw polls?
April 22nd, 2007 at 7:38 pm
By the way peeps it looks like NV Republicans have move up to Jan 19 too. So does this me NH will move up and Likely Iowa Too?
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,267733,00.html
April 22nd, 2007 at 10:20 pm
Just a few corrections to the original and later posts…all six candidates who spoke at the Richland Convention last night spoke at the Greenville convention earlier that morning. The Spartanburg convention was also Saturday morning with the same 6 candidates in attendance.
Only delegates and other voters registered in the county were allowed to vote in the straw polls, as has been the case in other SC straw polls.
I’m not a huge fan of Huckabee, but he gave, by far, the best speech of all 6 candidates at the conventions yesterday.
April 22nd, 2007 at 11:45 pm
Thanks for updating the original post.
I think you will hear more from Huckabee in the coming months. He will stand out in the debates for sure.
April 23rd, 2007 at 8:49 am
James,
Huckabee is climbing in my personal preferences. I’m starting to really warm to the idea of him in the race. I could see him winning a general election, if he somehow pull off the primaries. At first, I didn’t like him going after the other candidates, but he didn’t bother me as much as Gilmore, Paul, or Tancredo. I’m a Fred Thompson supporter all the way (born, raised, and I’m gonna die in TN), but if Thompson backs out or has trouble, I’m starting to like the idea of a possible Huckabee ticket. He did a lot for his state, has the experience of being a governor, and could carry the south. I’m going to have to do some more reading up on him before I make him my solid #2 guy. Thanks for the contribution.
April 23rd, 2007 at 10:14 am
Huckabee? He only raised a wopping $500,000 and he doesn’t even have a full time job at the moment. I don’t see him going very far.
April 23rd, 2007 at 12:17 pm
Seems Huckabee is doing quite well for a guy who has spent almost ZERO dollars in South Carolina, as opposed to Romney who has spent nearly $12 million and has been accused of stuffing the ballot boxes by buying the tickets and submitting paperwork for convention attendees. See this link:http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2007/04/23/south_carolina/
April 24th, 2007 at 1:21 am
whatever
April 24th, 2007 at 10:49 pm
keep looking tommey and you will see what others see, he is the real deal.
People must like him a lot for him to be doing well without spending money. He is going to go very far. Just keep watching.