Iowa Straw Poll

**Lemur** · 08-12-2007, 03:23

It's over, and the votes have been counted.

Looks like Romney in first, Huckabee second, Brownback third. For all of the internet excitement, Ron Paul didn't get a meaningful score.

I think I could live with Romney. Better him than Giuliani, certainly. Does this straw poll throw any light on the race for our Republican Orgahs?

**Xiahou** · 08-12-2007, 03:35

Originally Posted by Lemur

It's over, and the votes have been counted.

Looks like Romney in first, Huckabee second, Brownback third. For all of the internet excitement, Ron Paul didn't get a meaningful score.

I think I could live with Romney. Better him than Giuliani, certainly. Does this straw poll throw any light on the race for our Republican Orgahs?

I think it's definitely good news for Huckabee. Romney was pretty much the only top-tier candidate competing, so it's no surprise he won. Paul's result is similarly unsurprising- he has some fanatical followers, but no wide-spread support.

**seireikhaan** · 08-12-2007, 04:57

Originally Posted by Lemur

It's over, and the votes have been counted.

Looks like Romney in first, Huckabee second, Brownback third. For all of the internet excitement, Ron Paul didn't get a meaningful score.

I think I could live with Romney. Better him than Giuliani, certainly. Does this straw poll throw any light on the race for our Republican Orgahs?

Ugh, I cannot live with Romney myself. He simply has turned me off too much when I tried to listen to him in a debate. Honestly, though, I'm not sure that there is a republican candidate I can live with at the moment. Romney has come off as too much of a 'holy roller'(not to mention reminding me heavily of my high school, which I currently despise), Giuliani has all sortsa problems with power(and ex-wives), McCain is aging heavily and has been flip-flopping on issues, Thompson is supposedly a young Reagan(I'll pass on that, myself(and has he even actually entered the race yet, I don't think so)), and lets be honest, do any of the other candidates even really have a shot? Not really. Although, I'll admit that I don't know a ton about Brownback, so maybe he could garner my support in the future.(sorry about all the parenthesis)

**GeneralHankerchief** · 08-12-2007, 05:02

Since Romney is the only major candidate in the poll, no. It fails to tell us how he matches up against his prime competition (Giuliani, Thompson), and it also fails to tell us which, if any, minor candidates have a shot at the nomination. Huckabee putting up 18% against Mitt is one thing. It'll be a lot different if he gets the same numbers against Mitt, Rudy, and Fred.

**Lemur** · 08-13-2007, 00:23

Them Iowans sure are expensive, especially considering only about 14,000 voted.

Third-place finisher Sam Brownback says he spent about $325,000 to win his 2,192 votes. That's $148.27 for each vote.
Second-place finisher Mike Huckabee spent about $150,000 and received 2,587 votes. That's $57.98 per vote.
Winner Mitt Romney has not said how much he spent. The reporting in this Washington Post article suggests at least $2 million and possibly more than twice that much. Assuming $2 million for 4,516 votes, that's $442.87 per vote. But it could top $1,000.