Ron Paul wins CPAC straw poll to mixed reaction from crowd

For the second year in a row, Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) won the
presidential straw poll at the Conservative Political Action
Conference, a victory that was met with raucous cheers from his core
of supporters inside CPAC’s main ballroom.

As they did during the libertarian-leaning Republican’s speech to the
conference Friday, Paul backers managed to drown out the audible jeers
that came from many in the crowd after Paul was announced the winner.

{mosads}Paul won with 30 percent of the vote, followed by former Massachusetts
Gov. Mitt Romney, who took 23 percent of the vote, a second-place
finish that CPAC organizers are already touting.

No other candidate was even close, with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie
and former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson both earning 6 percent; former
House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) winning 5 percent; and former Minnesota
Gov. Tim Pawlenty, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) and Indiana Gov. Mitch
Daniels with 4 percent each.

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who declined to speak at CPAC for the
fourth year in a row, earned just 3 percent of the straw poll vote.

Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), former Sen. Rick Santorum and talk radio host Herman
Cain each earned 2 percent of the vote.

When Romney’s percentage was announced, Paul supporters booed loudly.

GOP pollster Tony Fabrizio announced the results of the straw poll
Saturday afternoon to a packed room of conservative activists, with
the stark divide on display even before he officially announced the
results.

An impatient Paul backer shouted her support at one point, leading to
a loud battle of cheers and jeers from Paul supporters and opponents
in the crowd.

“I’m not getting in the middle of that one,” Fabrizio joked.

Outgoing American Conservative Union Chairman David Keene also
appeared to downplay the significance of the topline results before
the official announcement. Keene told the crowd that while the media
likes to focus on the straw poll winner, the more significant answers
are typically contained within the poll’s other questions.

Paul’s victory means that, once again, the results of the once highly
anticipated straw poll don’t reveal all that much about where the
current field of 2012 presidential hopefuls truly stand among
conservatives.

Paul’s win isn’t the result of a groundswell of political support
among movement conservatives; it’s largely thanks to the nearly 1,000
supporters his Campaign for Liberty helped pack into CPAC.

His backers have made been the largest presence by far at the
conference over the past three days.

Participation in this year’s poll was the highest ever with 3,742
people casting a vote. Still, that’s only a small percentage of the
estimated 11,000 attendees.

The poll also revealed that 43 percent of those who voted said they
are not satisfied with the current field of GOP presidential hopefuls.
That’s a slight increase over the percentage of activists who said the
same last year.