Romney Wins Straw Poll, Huckabee Takes Second

No Conspiracy, Just Lower than Expected Results Although far from the death knell this is for the Tommy Thompson campaign (he only campaigned in every county before the poll) the results for Dr. Ron Paul are somewhat disappointing.

Yeah, even though he got better bang for the buck than anyone who  placed above him, he still needs TURNOUT.

Only voters pay the $35 It was my understanding that the campaigns were only passing out vouchers before the event, and they only paid the $35 for the people who showed up to vote. I think the RPI took a major hit today.

Ron Paul Mistake I made a mistake and voted for Romney.

Ron Paul was clearly the best candidate and I feel very upset with my vote.  My wife also voted for Romney and we talked on our way home and both agree that we made a mistake.  My son is from Indiana and also came as a Romney supporter and he also feels the same.  It appears we're going to change our vote by January to Ron Paul.

Were building up steam! Some may be disappointed with the 5th place finish of Ron Paul. I for one am pleased. This shows we got 10% of the vote which is far better than the 2% that has been claimed before.Ron Paul only spent a week and very little money in Iowa and still came out strong. Right now Ron pauls campaign is still moving up slowly, while others are quickly tumbling downward. 

Message? Yeah, and Mitt Bundy's message was “vote for me and I'll buy you a bus ticket give you free lunch”.

Big fat hairy deal!

spread the word I'm right there with you, but just two weeks ahead.  I was lost and discouraged until I stumbled across Dr. Paul.  glad you heard RPs message.  That is all it takes.  Spread the word.

How many were bused in Does anyone have numbers on the amount of people that each candidate provided transportation and a ticket for entry?

Pleased with Ron Paul but All candidates should demand paper voting in clear plastic boxes and public witnessed vote counts. Doesn't that seem only logical?

Great win for Huckabee I'm glad Huckabee did so well, him along with Brownback and Ron Paul are the only 3 guys I like out of this lineup. Romney has too much flip flopping going on and has already admitted that he would lie to get votes. Fred Thompson is just a big dumb zombie who would be lost without his wife and as for Rudy, I have NO IDEA what he's doing running for the gop ticket. He's just a one trick pony that tries to exploit 9/11 by switching from democrat to republican. Sadly I just don't see our party winning the 08 election with the pro war stance. Unfortunately democrats are going to clean house in 08 unless something is done about out of control spending and the Iraq war. 

Ron Paul President Ron Paul has a powerful message! He was only in Iowa a week. I think he done great! When he wins the presidency. I think Huckabee would be a good vice president

it’s close enough for him to stay in Huckabee didn’t beat Brownback by much.

Of course Tommy Thompson has to say goodbye, though.

A great deal of the Paul people were out-of-staters. Same with his first of two visits to the state. I was there today, I’m glad Huckabee did so well, he is a very good guy and I think if he were to get the GOP nom. he would be tough, though we’d win of course.

A good day in Ames, even for a Democrat.

Falls Short Looks like Romney finished 5,000 votes less then expected.
Spent $2,200 per vote.
Ron Paul spent $200 per vote.
Ron Paul’s message 10 times more powerful?

Message? Money only gets attention, people don’t just look up whoever spent the most money, they vote for the message that resonates.  Romney wins.

Depends For the RPI coffers turnout doesn’t matter, ticket sales do.  How many no-shows were paid for?  Still my guess is you’re right: low turnout is a financial hit.  Combination of Rudy not playing (McCain no longer matters), Mitt not bringing his A game, and general weakness of the field.

Talking to someone who organizes “Get out the vote efforts” As a campaign consultant, I know that money equals votes… Romney doesn’t provide bus rides and tickets…. romney doesn’t finish first. Ron Paul supporters provided their own way… and only 800 could have recieved free tickets.
Were there any Romney supporters left in the building to hear the results? No.
The place was filled with Ron Paul signs.  Who has real support? Who has paid support? Who has more devotion, a patriot or a mercenary?
The mercenaries left… the patriots hung around.

Okay, I’ll bite… Please do not attempt to put words in my mouth. Thanks.

No, I didn’t expect Huckabee to get first place, and I never said that.

I expected Huckabee to exceed expectations, and Romney to have a weaker showing than everybody thought he would have.

I wrote this yesterday on my blog:
http://smokyhollow.b…

Also, check in the comments section of this post:
http://www.iowaindep…

My mom and Gov. Culver make a great team. They have plenty of accomplishments to be proud of already, including a very successful legislative session.

But what is the party’s excuse? The poor turnout is a very poor reflection on the RPI and the field of presidential candidates. They couldn’t come close to the 1999 turnout. I think this really reflects poorly on the Republican Party, and now they have to scramble to raise money to pay for their caucus. I figure they are at least $700,000 short of what they were expecting.

And who believes the vote count? The optical scan machines that they use in Story County have not malfunctioned before, so it is just too convenient that one breaks down today. And wouldn’t you know it that the machine that broke down had the most votes!

Governing a state is not a game. And in case you are lost or confused, this thread is about the Ames Straw Poll.

Only voters pay the $35 It was my understanding that the campaigns were only passing out vouchers before the event, and they only paid the $35 for the people who showed up to vote. I think the RPI took a major hit today.

Actually, Actually, you’re out of your mind.  Go find the numbers… you’ll see Romney’s fund raising efforts were incredibly high and it’s not even close.

Good point. That’s enough of that.

Welcome Aboard Glad to have you along! :-)

I’ve seen the numbers, and my mind is sound. I’ve seen the numbers.

At the end of the quarter, Romney had $12 million cash on hand.  Of that, $6.5 million was his own money that he had “loaned” his own campaign, and can either choose to recoup from leftover funds at the end of the election season or “forgive” the debt to himself. 

On top of that, he had millions of dollars of campaign debts to contractors and consultants, so all told his actual amount of cash on hand based on contributions (minus debts) is about on par with the $2.4 million Ron Paul raised.

Interestingly enough, Paul didn’t spend any of that $2.4 million during the quarter, instead spending only the roughly $500,000 that he started it with.  That’s what I call fiscal conservatism.

But if you were blinded by Romney’s light show and jumbotron screens in his giant (bread and) circus tent today, that’s fine, I reckon.  If you like that, just imagine how easily he’ll spend your tax money!