Wonder if they were bussed in?
Posted on 07/08/2007 9:43:18 PM PDT by iowamark
The Young Republican National Federation's annual convention ends tonight in Ft. Lauderdale with the announcement of its straw poll results -- a poll that, in all likelihood, Mitt Romney will win, and then use to tout as an example of how Young Republicans are enthusiastic about his campaign.
But Romney had a few legs up. For one thing, the Young Republican's executive director, Jon Woodward, is the St. John's County chair for Romney. The convention's chief organizer is Brian Graham, who is also a Romney backer. Romney's campaign helped to sponsor tonight's dinner. And the YRNF convention corporation, according to Erick Erickson at RedState, decided for some reason to allow non YRers to vote in the straw poll. That allows organized and well-monied campaigns to bring in supporters, so they should choose.
The perception among YRs I've been corresponding with tonight is that Romney is trying to pack the straw poll. Maybe it's not true. But that's what these YRers believe.
One real, dues-paying Young Republican e-mailed to note that his identification was not checked when he cast his ballot. Another noticed that reams of Romney supporters, many of them not terribly young, had "flooded" the convention on Saturday. One delegate... wrote a resolution urging the bifurcaton of straw poll results into credentialed convention attendees and visitors...
All that effort, and the reports I'm getting suggest that Fred Thompson's Friday night appearance was the piece de resistance of the conference. He was introduced by Mary Matalin, who, in what attendees assumed was a swipe at Romney, called Thompson the race's true "principled" conservative. After his speech, Thompson spent a half hour shaking hands with the crowd...
Two independent witnesses, one of whom was a Romney backer before tonight, e-mailed me to say that Thompson heard more applause than Romney.
(Excerpt) Read more at marcambinder.theatlantic.com ...
fred’s the man!
“fred’s the man!”
YES, he is.
Romney is on his way out. He had his 15 minutes of glory.
I can attest that Romney is working is working intensively to win the Iowa Straw Poll August 11.I can attest that Mitt Romney is to the GOP what a bedbug infestation is to a dormitory for recovering crystal meth addicts. The man is like the US submarine corps: there is no depth to which he will not sink.
“For one thing, the Young Republican’s executive director, Jon Woodward, is the St. John’s County chair for Romney.”
I know politics is politics. But frankly, I don’t think Romney needs to cheat to win straw polls. If he won it, he won it fair and square and the rest of us will just have to deal with it!
Romney is on his way out. He had his 15 minutes of glory.He didn't deserve those 15 minutes. That a loser like Romney even got 15 minutes testifies to the weakness of the GOP at this precise historical moment.
I am OK with that, sort of.
I’d rather have him as Prez than that psycho shrew who has the blessings of just about every person that you will ever see on the TV during the next 16 months.
This is like complaining that the Girl Scouts weren't allowed to vote in a Boy Scout poll.
How Fred rising when he started ahead?
I love to hear that video talk on the Young Republican again of Fred speech but it seem to disappeared!
If he won it, he won it fair and square and the rest of us will just have to deal with it!Indeed. We can all vote Libertarian. Which would be far better than registering a vote for Mitt Romney.
I suppose some people have to find a conspiracy theory in anything, even something as meaningless as a straw poll.
The Republican party apparatus out here in southwest Washington State had a meeting at which a straw poll was taken. Fred Thompson won going away, and that was two and a half months ago.
So instead of saying something positive for Thompson (whom I admire btw), they have to trash a good man like Romney?
This smells of Democrat infestation.
Young GOP straw poll results tallied*
http://blogs.tampabay.com/buzz/2007/07/young-gop-straw.html
I sorta like Romney....I understand he was a great manager in business, he saved the Salt Lake Olympics, has done extremely well in business, great resume, great family - since he isn’t Muslim his religion doesn’t bother me. I don’t know enough about his record as governor however. So far I don’t think I’d be holding my nose to vote for him.
That being said...I might sorta like Romney but I LOVE Fred.
meanwhile, noone can explain why Fred should be 'the' choice for the GOP. He didn't do much leading as a senator. And as far as I can tell, he's just another playa from Hollywood.
I'm guessing HRClinton and crew would love to have him to run against. Compared to Thompson, in a debate HRClinton would look like the sharpest knife in the box.
what, exactly, did he lead the way on? what innovations did he spearhead?
It’s what Fred says and the way he says it. You have to read or listen to the spots he did on ABC radio and also when filling in for Paul Harvey. Also his retort to Michael Moore over Moore wanting to debate Fred over Cuban health care. He fought back - something we haven’t seen much of lately.
Fred’s voting record is good, he says things I like to hear - things that give me a “why hasn’t anyone else ever said this?” feeling, and he has a backbone and can deliver his message in a good way.
i was hoping for something he may have spearheaded.. something he solved or pushed to have solved and saw it through. something he had to make deals to see come to life then manage through inception all the way through. there are plenty of talking heads on TV and radio that can pitch a well written story, but how many of them lead the way
Good point. I’m staying tuned. We have a long way to go.
I could mention Fred Thompson's work to expose Richard Nixon's corruption or Fred's investigation which sent [Tennessee Governor] Ray Blanton to jail. He was such an heroic figure that he was asked to play himself in the movie Marie, thereby launching his movie career.
But I suspect that would not satisfy you. You perhaps want to see huge new shining bureaucracies built with huge new tax increases. The problem is that that is not what conservatives are about.
Conservatism is not about making deals to bring more government to life, as you put it. Conservatism is about resisting such things and maintaining America’s freedom, not reducing it.
I love Fred too!
Yup!
That’s why there are a series of character assassination articles being hurled out there. They are very afraid of Fred.
They all are.
Give me Romney over any one of those Democrats, any day.
You're nuts if you think Hillary is preferable to Romney.
are you saying that the only ideas anyone in government can have would require massive bureaucracies? that's pretty limited thinking. how about just massive tax cutting or proper routing of funds or defunding old pork schemes? how about encouraging new business backed ventures with various incentives? new educational programs combining with local businesses to cover costs? propose a grand scheme or goal (like the apollo program or darpa's internet) that would spur business and fuel ideas for the next 50 years?
anything. to me, enforcing existing laws is fine and good, and more politicians today need to do that (illegals...), but that doesn't take imagination or leadership. it just requires your ass not to be entirely broken.
at least Reagan when he was in CA ran that state in such a way as to inspire business and set them up with a well oiled machine. and while he was president, the best presidential 8 years in my lifetime, business boomed and put the country back on track.
and yes... Romney does have many examples of running organizations while reigning in costs... which supposed conservatives are supposedly for.
i'm trying to get passed the emotional response(campaign spin) everyone is having about Fred and understand why. and so far, all i hear is fluff and no substance.
If Romney loses a straw poll,then it is because he is not conservative.
If Romney wins a straw poll, it is because he has packed it with cronies.
Some call the whaaambulance, looks like the anti Romney posters are going to complain no matter what.
I read one young republican who was there said he/she liked Fred’s speech and liked Fred himself, but also liked Romney’s speech especially all the ideas and felt Romney would make the better president.
According to the link the poster on thsi thread linked.. Romney won 46%, Thompson 28, Guiliani 10, and all the rest a not insignificant 22%.
I don’t think anyone cheated from reading about it.. but getting people out to a straw poll with you organization is part of politics. Same as getting your people out on election day. That was one reason Bush is president right now is his team organized a lot of folks to get them down to the voting station. Even picking them up at their house and driving them down.
I forgot to add.. 28% for Thompson is still a good showing. 18 points above Guiliani and way above McCain.
If this was a legislative position I can much more see the argument for Fred. Because although I haven’t heard any ideas from him for how to deal with things, he is a solid conservative vote on most issues.
The Dems are really weak on the area of executive experience too. Their top 3 have never ran anything in their lives. Romney nailed them on it, saying none have probably even ran a corner store. The Presidency isn’t an internship in executive leadership.
My personal favorite president is Eisenhower. In the military you work up in rank and responsibility one step at a time. Running the entire federal government wasn’t that big of a step up from the huge military operation he was running in Europe. The government was nearly efficient in those days, like building those interstates in that short a period of time.. he cut spending while raising what the government did. Its one reason some older Americans have a fond view of government, they don’t look at it as the incompetent bureaucratic monstrosity that many of us look at it today.
Fredipedia: The Definitive Fred Thompson Reference
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Give me Romney over any one of those Democrats, any day.The trope of this or nothing. Does it not strike you as sad tht the most powerful argument in favour of this man is that he is better than a Democrat? Here is my problem: I am not convinced that he is better than a Democrat. I think a real Democrat is better than a fake one.
I don't really have a problem with the tactic, but it's not going to work in the long run.I agree. Ask Howard Dean and Joe Trippi about the sustainabiliy of tricks like these. Romney may be clever in a reptile sort of way. But is he wise? No.
I have no horse in the race yet, but this Romney hatred is bizarre. His organizational excellence is becoming clear to me. His management skill in how the campaign is being run is becoming clear to me. And the consensus seems to be that he won every debate he’s been in.
He took less conservative positions than we might like because he was running for Governor of Massachusetts, which is certainly less conservative than we might like, and as Governor he clearly felt an obligation to represent and reflect the attitude of his constituents. His “base”, as it were.
About 3 weeks ago, wasn’t FR filled to the brim with demands that President Bush be more representative and reflect the attitude of his base?
No one wants someone with his finger in the wind perpetually, but if you have a choice of profound competence with a sense of obligation to represent a base, even if in conflict with personal position versus untested managerial competence and unknown principle or disagreed with principle, I think one has to choose the former. That would be Romney vs Clinton.
About 3 weeks ago, wasn’t FR filled to the brim with demands that President Bush be more representative and reflect the attitude of his base?Duh. So why would we want to elect another president who reflects attitudes other than those of his base? About competence, this is an odd argument. We are to elect a president, not a senior administrator. Administration will be a part of his portfolio, but he will be called upon to set policy. Romney's history would predict policies other than those that conservatives would support.
Try the link @ post #55 for Fred’s speech to the Young Republicans.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/1862711/posts?page=55#55
I hope whoever we elect as our nominee will have the foresight to “pack” the polling places on election day with his supporters.
Do the Fred supporters understand that the goal is to pack the election with voters for Fred? Apparently Romney understands that.
And while I love Fred Thompson as well, I’m not more inclined to support him when I see Mary Matalin next to him. I don’t mind her, but she’s not my idea of a solid conservative supporter, and her opinion does not carry much weight with me, especially after the last 6 years.
When people are going to lose a straw poll, they will always point out silly complaints like how the local republican leadership support someone other than their candidate.
In fact, I think it is a GOOD thing when you can get the support of the committed, active republicans that would be in leadership of the local party apparatus.
Next they will complain that too many of the republican activists who show up for these events are actually Romney supporters, and how that “stacks the deck” against them.
“Well, the poll just isn’t fair, because more people support our opponent than us.”
Seriously, though, Romney used his influence with the group leadership to change the rules, allowing him to stack the vote by brining in 100 supporters who were each 20 years too old to even be members of the group.
That's just pathetic and sad, not shrewd. He's not going to be able to bribe state election officials to change the rules so that he can buy victory in actual elections.
Not only WILL it work in the long run, it’s exactly what we NEED in the long run.
We need a candidate who will pack the polls on election day with his supporters. That’s the name of the game.
So the rules said anybody could attend and vote, and only Romney was smart enough to get his older supporters to show up?
The rules were changed by Romney and his supporters, and he bussed in people who were ineligible to be members of the organization specifically to skew the vote.
If he does that on election day, he'd be committing a felony, but I guess as long he wins it's ok?
But, but, but Romney's so NICE and wealthy and he has such a lovely wife and family and they're all so gosh darn photogenic ~ why would he need to skew votes?
Besides, who really looks past a pretty face anyway?
::: d.r.i.p.p.i.n.g sarcasm :::
So, what the article is basically saying, is that Romney FReeped the straw poll?
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