Word: straws
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When the ballots were finally counted in the Iowa straw poll on the evening of Aug. 11, former Governor Mitt Romney was the winner, with 31.5% of the vote. But it was Mike Huckabee, the laid-back former Governor of Arkansas, who bounded into the press tent ahead of the others to exult in his second-place finish. Romney's win was preordained--he spent a reported $2 million on the event and has led in Iowa polls since mid-May. But Huckabee, who has raised only $1.3 million all year and spent less than $150,000 on the straw...
...time that Libertarian congressman Ron Paul told a cheering crowd at the Iowa Republican straw poll that the 9/11 terrorist attacks might have been prevented if the passengers on the planes had been packing heat, I was beginning to wonder if the event-a goofy affair under the best of circumstances-had gone fatally exotic. Paul had one of the largest groups of supporters. So did Kansas Senator Sam Brownback, who provided a massive air-conditioned tent that looked something like the Denver airport and featured nonstop evangelical preachers and a Christian rock band that strip-mined Stevie Wonder...
...Which raised an essential question about Republicans this year: Given the Bush debacle and the possibility of a Democratic victory in 2008, how crazy are they willing to get? Are they tempted to pull another Goldwater and lose spectacularly, on principle, as they did in 1964? If the straw poll is any test, the answer is no. The Paul forces turned out mostly to be nonvoting out-of-staters. Tancredo tanked. The Iowans, including Taylor, even chose the milder brand of Christian conservative, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee (with 2,587 votes), over Brownback (2,191). Huckabee, a Baptist preacher...
...While the straw poll outcome has no direct impact on the Iowa delegates who will attend next summer's 2008 Republican national convention, candidates have in the past used high placements to demonstrate strength and build momentum in advance of the Iowa caucuses in January, as well as to force weaker competitors to reassess and, often, drop out of the race...
...Thompson or Huckabee, will likely produce one brush fire - or massive conflagration - after another. As hot as it was in Ames on Saturday, and as pleased as Romney and his staff are with their win, the challenges ahead for his candidacy will not be much easier because of his straw poll victory...