{"id":4062,"date":"2011-06-18T18:37:22","date_gmt":"2011-06-18T22:37:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/?p=4062"},"modified":"2011-06-21T10:01:24","modified_gmt":"2011-06-21T14:01:24","slug":"ron-paul-wins-rlc-straw-poll-huntsman-second","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2011\/06\/18\/ron-paul-wins-rlc-straw-poll-huntsman-second\/","title":{"rendered":"Ron Paul Wins RLC Straw Poll; Huntsman Second"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Normally I&#8217;d greet the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/8301-503544_162-20072266-503544.html\" target=\"_blank\">news<\/a> that Ron Paul had won the Republican Leadership Conference straw poll with a yawn and an eye roll&#8230; You might say his victory was a forgone conclusion, I can&#8217;t remember the last time he didn&#8217;t win a CPAC or RLC straw poll. The real shocker here is Jon Huntsman&#8217;s second place finish, where the hell did that come from?<\/p>\n<p>Politico&#8217;s Jonathan Martain offers one <a href=\"http:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/stories\/0611\/57274.html\" target=\"_blank\">possibility<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The more notable result was Huntsman&#8217;s second place.  The former  ambassador was slated to speak to the confab, but backed out, citing a  cold.  That the little-known and pragmatic Huntsman would finish between  Paul and Bachmann \u2014 each of whom enjoy a passionate following among  more ideological activists \u2014 is surprising.<\/p>\n<p>Rumors circulated here that Huntsman campaign had paid for supporters to  attend the conference and a spokesman for the candidate, Tim MIller,  didn&#8217;t deny that they had.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Not commenting on internal strategy,&#8221; said Miller, adding: &#8220;The result  demonstrates that young conservatives are responding to his record of  success in Utah, willingness to take the debt problem seriously, and  foreign policy message,&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Short of any real proof &#8212; All we have right now are rumors, I&#8217;m not ready to endorse Mr. Martain&#8217;s claims, but this is being talked about and Mr. Miller&#8217;s non-denial denial is certainly suspicious.<\/p>\n<p>Anyway, here are the results:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Paul 612<\/li>\n<li>Huntsman 382<\/li>\n<li>Bachmann 191<\/li>\n<li>Cain 104<\/li>\n<li>Romney 74<\/li>\n<li>Gingrich 69<\/li>\n<li>Palin 41<\/li>\n<li>Santorum 30<\/li>\n<li>Pawlenty 18<\/li>\n<li>Johnson 10<\/li>\n<li>Roemer 9<\/li>\n<li>McCotter 2<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>As Greta Van Susteren <a href=\"http:\/\/gretawire.blogs.foxnews.com\/interesting-not-binding-or-even-instructive\/\" target=\"_blank\">notes<\/a> they&#8217;re Interesting&#8230;not binding or even instructive&#8230; Franky, this early in the process the polls don&#8217;t mean much, once the field solidifies &#8212; there&#8217;s still one more unannounced candidates who could join the race, and the primary&#8217;s and\/or caucus&#8217; start we&#8217;ll have a clearer picture. Until then any of these polls should be taken with grain of salt (and a shot of tequila).<\/p>\n<p>H\/T: <a href=\"http:\/\/hotair.com\/archives\/2011\/06\/18\/rlc-straw-poll-produces-interesting-result\/\" target=\"_blank\">Hot Air<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>Update<\/strong><\/span> (Tuesday, June 21, 2011): Politico&#8217;s Jonathan Martain who first raised questions about Jon Huntsman&#8217;s surprising second place finish in last weeks RLC straw pole has new information about how o<a href=\"http:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/stories\/0611\/57370.html\" target=\"_blank\">peratives boosted Huntsman at the Republican Leadership Conference<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>So how did he snag so many votes?<\/p>\n<p>Partly due to the effort of a New Orleans Republican named Bryan Wagner.<\/p>\n<p>An influential former city councilor and big McCain backer, Wagner is close to former Rep. Joseph Cao.<\/p>\n<p>In an interview, Wagner said he, Cao and New Orleans school board  member Brett Bonin talked up Huntsman to their friends in the days  leading up the gathering.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe were very, very pleased with the outcome we got,\u201d boasted Wagner.<\/p>\n<p>But when pressed about who paid for the registration of the pro-Huntsman voters, Wagner grew defensive.<\/p>\n<p>He flatly denied purchasing any tickets but wouldn\u2019t say who did put up the money for the Huntsman voters.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Mr, Martain adds additional details in a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/stories\/0611\/57399.html\" target=\"_blank\">second post<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p id=\"continue\">But some Louisiana Republicans are unhappy because, as the email twice  gets at, it wasn&#8217;t just Republicans who were brought in to vote for  Huntsman.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote dir=\"ltr\">\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\" dir=\"ltr\">Date: Wed, 15 Jun 2011 19:17:57 -0500<br \/>\nSubject: INSIDER INVITATION<br \/>\nFrom: xxx@xxxx<br \/>\nTo: xxx@xxxx<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">To Team Bonin,<\/p>\n<p>I have a very special invitation to all, regardless of party<br \/>\naffiliation. I am hosting a free insider&#8217;s look at the Republican<br \/>\nSouthern Leadership Conference this Saturday.<\/p>\n<p>Anyone who is interested will meet at Lakeview Harbor at 9:00 am, we<br \/>\nwill board a free bus for the conference at 9:30 sharp, free tickets<br \/>\nto the conference are included, we will go to the conference, meet<br \/>\nwith an insider from a presidential campaign, participate in<br \/>\nconference, participate in a straw poll, then head back to Lakeview<br \/>\nharbor for refreshments. There is no cost involved and it does not<br \/>\nmatter what your party affiliation is. The whole thing should last<br \/>\nbetween two to three hours.<\/p>\n<p>I have a limited number of invitations and it will be first come,<br \/>\nfirst served. Anyone who is interested should reply to this email<br \/>\nimmediately with your name, cell number, email address, and<br \/>\ncity\/parish you are from.<\/p>\n<p>Sent from Brett A. Bonin&#8217;s iPhone<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Free bus, free tickets, free food. You get the picture.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Yes we do&#8230; Ambassador Huntsman can game a straw poll, but he can\u2019t game his way to the nomination. Amb. Huntsman&#8217;s campaign operatives may have generated a little much needed buzz for their candidate, but shenanigans like this don&#8217;t translate into actual support&#8230; and judging by the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.realclearpolitics.com\/epolls\/2012\/president\/us\/republican_presidential_nomination-1452.html\" target=\"_blank\">polls<\/a> Amb. Huntsman has little real support.<\/p>\n<div>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/stories\/0611\/57399.html#ixzz1PuyT4PAY\"><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Normally I&#8217;d greet the news that Ron Paul had won the Republican Leadership Conference straw poll with a yawn and an eye roll&#8230; You might say his victory was a forgone conclusion, I can&#8217;t remember the last time he didn&#8217;t win a CPAC or RLC straw poll. The real shocker here is Jon Huntsman&#8217;s second [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7],"tags":[748,804,1185,1184],"class_list":{"0":"post-4062","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-politics","7":"tag-2012-elections","8":"tag-jon-huntsman","9":"tag-rlc-straw-poll","10":"tag-ron-paul","11":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pfpI7-13w","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4164,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2011\/08\/13\/rep-michele-bachmann-wins-iowa-straw-poll\/","url_meta":{"origin":4062,"position":0},"title":"Rep. Michele Bachmann Wins Iowa Straw Poll","author":"Jeff","date":"August 13, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (R-MN) won the 2011 Iowa straw poll with 28.55 percent of the vote, Congressman Ron Paul (R-TX) finished second with 27.65 percent and former Minn. Gov. Tim Pawlenty finished a distant third 13.57 percent. From the Wall Street Journal: None of the 16,892 votes filed at Iowa\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Politics&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Politics","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4180,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2011\/08\/14\/2012-presidential-straw-poll-%e2%80%94-round-4\/","url_meta":{"origin":4062,"position":1},"title":"2012 Presidential Straw Poll \u2014 Round 4","author":"Jeff","date":"August 14, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"It\u2019s time for round four of our 2012 Republican Presidential Primary Straw Poll. For this round are (in no particular order): Herman Cain, John Bolton, Thaddeus McCotter, Rick Santorum, Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry, Newt Gingrich, Gary Johnson, Sarah Palin, Mitt Romney, Ron Paul and John Huntsman Changes from round three:\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Politics&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Politics","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3869,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2011\/03\/07\/2012-presidential-straw-poll-round-3\/","url_meta":{"origin":4062,"position":2},"title":"2012 Presidential Straw Poll &#8212; Round 3","author":"Jeff","date":"March 7, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"It\u2019s time for round three of our 2012 Republican Presidential Primary Straw Poll. The candidates in this round are (in no particular order): Sarah Palin, Mitt Romney, Haley Barbour, Tim Pawlenty, Mike Huckabee, Newt Gingrich, Mitch Daniels, Bobby Jindal, Rick Perry, John Kasich, John Huntsman, John Bolton, Jeb Bush, Liz\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Politics&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Politics","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3660,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2010\/11\/04\/2012-republican-presidential-primary-straw-poll\/","url_meta":{"origin":4062,"position":3},"title":"2012 Republican Presidential Primary Straw Poll","author":"Jeff","date":"November 4, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"It's time for round two of our 2012 Republican Presidential Primary Straw Poll. The candidates are (in not particular order): Sarah Palin, Mitt Romney, Haley Barbour, Tim Pawlenty, Mike Huckabee, Newt Gingrich, John Thune, Mitch Daniels, Bobby Jindal, Mike Pence, Rick Perry, John Kasich, John Huntsman and John Bolton. [poll\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Politics&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Politics","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2631,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2009\/08\/22\/poll-question-if-the-2012-republican-presidential-primary-were-being-held-today-who-would-you-vote-for\/","url_meta":{"origin":4062,"position":4},"title":"Poll Question: If the 2012 Republican Presidential Primary were being held today who would you vote for?","author":"Jeff","date":"August 22, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"[poll id=\"16\"] I'm not crazy about Mitt Romney or Mike Huckabee so they're not even on my short list. I love Sarah Palin but I think she's been to damaged by partisan attacks to be viable candidate... Ditto for former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, he's to much of a lighting\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Politics&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Politics","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":892,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2008\/10\/30\/presidential-straw-poll\/","url_meta":{"origin":4062,"position":5},"title":"Poll Question: Who Are You Voting For?","author":"Jeff","date":"October 30, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"It's a slow news day, and like Allahpundit I'm a blogger strapped for content so here comes a poll question: [poll id=\"10\"]","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Politics&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Politics","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4062","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4062"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4062\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4062"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4062"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4062"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}