Associated Press
In a bit of a surprise over the weekend, Mitt Romney won the straw poll at the Conservative Political Action Conference, picking up 38% of the vote, ahead of Rick Santorum's 31%. Yesterday, the former senator sounded rather annoyed about the results, saying, "I don't try to rig straw polls."
Was this just sour grapes, or does Santorum have a legitimate beef? Jonathan Martin points towards the latter in a report this morning.
Mitt Romney's campaign, in need of a boost following a trio of losses last Tuesday, shelved their "no straw polls" policy and worked to win the CPAC vote.
A Republican source confirms to me that Romney's camp bought registrations at CPAC to ensure their victory at the straw poll. There was also a more visible presence. Two young men, one who identified himself as a staffer but declined to talk and another who said he was a volunteer, held up Romney signs Saturday morning near the entrance to the ballroom and urged attendees to vote for the former Massachusetts governor.
The New York Times added that the Romney campaign was "busing students from colleges along the Eastern Seaboard" to help boost his CPAC totals.
When Martin asked the campaign whether it paid for registrations to help influence the straw poll results, a Romney spokesperson "avoided the question."
The larger issue, of course, is why Romney would bother, especially since his campaign has argued for months that straw polls just don't matter. I suspect the answer is that Team Romney saw themselves suffering through a rough week, assumed they'd lose the CPAC straw poll unless they spent some money to change the outcome, and didn't want to deal with another round of stories about how the Republican Party's far-right base just doesn't care for the former governor.
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Flip. Flop. A flippity-flop. Romney does it again. "We don't do straw polls. Until we do." Never mind that they're all bought. Bachmann "won" the Ames Straw Poll by literally buying 6000 voter ballots to hand out to folks (because it's really a fundraiser, not a poll). The funny thing is that she then "won" it with less than 6000 votes.
It is sour grapes for Santourm - he doesn't have the funds to buy his own straw poll.
"I suspect the answer is that Team Romney saw themselves suffering through a rough week, assumed they'd lose the CPAC straw poll unless they spent some money to change the outcome, and didn't want to deal with another round of stories about how the Republican Party's far-right base just doesn't care for the former governor."
So Team Romney spent a bunch of money to create the false impression that the far right Republican base likes him? That sounds like a case of good money after bad. It doesn't change the fact that the party's far right base really doesn't like him one little bit.
As bad as he is I'd take Romney over Santorum in a heart beat. I personally don't want to be a Catholic/Christian by default. Santorum is just tooooo over the top.
It's a valid point, but I say, let the conservatives go rabid. I hope they do nominate Santorum. The more extreme a canditate they nominate, the less likely they will be able to win the general election...
The Conservatives seem to be cutting off their noses to spite their face!
Which face are they spiteing? They have so many , one for every occasion.
Newsblog, at least they're consistent. Given the spite they have for most everything else, after all ...
I am amazed at how easily a Republican vote can be bought.
After paying attention to coverage of last year's Iowa straw poll, this looks pretty tame.
Gee, another whining GOP'er, who'da thunk it?! Brat!!
This is how Michele Bachman was able to win in Iowa way back in the beginning of this fiasco. Maybe the Romney Camp learned from this.
Yup and then Romney won until the evangelicals decided to back Santorum and ooops we were wrong Santorum won. Do you expect a clean election free of fraud in November?
I agree with you Paul - the media is so intent on pre-ordaining Romney....they forgot to actually pay attention to the voters!
Wake up America - we are all manipulated by the media (left and right alike!)
Oh - also remember that the Supreme Court ruled that those who have more money are allowed to have the louder (i.e. "only") voice when it comes to campaign contributions - no limits! Thank God for the internet! Thank God SOAP and "Protect IP" were defeated - its time to protect OUR freedom...
It was not the media in Iowa. The Iowans running the show were messing with the results. Argue against me but I saw what went down and it stunk. CNN called those two women-remember? The evangelists were in Texas at the time and as soon as they declared their candidate to be Santorum Santorum became the winner in Iowa.
Sound too unAmerican? Watch FOX,listen to Limbaugh then try to tell me what America stands for these days.
It's fun watching GOP argue within the party about the affect of dollars on government and policy. Arguing about whether more money is a stronger argument. Koch's probably equal-opportunity throwing millions at PACs supporting both candidates to cover their bases.
Bad plan. Most of that SuperPAC money goes for (im)plausibly-deniable negative ads. Trying to play both sides just tears down your best bets for the general election.
Not to mention the interesting shenanigans in Maine, with the POG leadership disenfranchising whole counties.
I don't think a faux strraw poll outcome will change the mind of any conservative who doesn't like him. Moderate Republicans don't give much credence to the C-PAC. So what was the purpose in it?