Posted on 09/27/2014 12:56:44 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz won the Value Voters Summit presidential straw poll on Saturday.
The crowd burst onto applause on Saturday, as Family Research Council President Tony Perkins announced that Cruz won 25 percent of votes at the annual Washington conference.
The victory is a big victory to the Republican firebrand and Tea Party icon, coming just a day after he drew standing ovations with a religious and emotional speech that blasted ObamaCare, congressional Democrats and called for Republicans to take over the White House in 2016.
Cruz also won the straw poll in 2013.
Coming in second was neurosurgeon Ben Carson, a political novice who has a large following in conservative circles but said earlier this week that there is a “strong” likelihood that he would run for president. He won 20 percent of the votes.
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R) came in third, with 12 percent of the vote.
As a signal of Carson’s popularity at the summit, the former Johns Hopkins University neurosurgeon came in first in the polling for vice president, winning 22 percent of the votes.
Cruz was the runner up in that contest, with 14 percent. Third was Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) — who earned surprising admiration in his Friday evening address, despite his low showing in recent polls of potential 2016 contenders — with 11 percent of the vote.
The annual Washington summit is considered a right of passage for prospective Republican presidential candidates, and served as an opportunity for aspirants to make some of their most direct pitches to social conservatives before announcing their ambitions next year.
The notable absence from the winners' list of Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) — another senator who is considered to be strongly eyeing a presidential run — is a sign of pervasive skepticism from the religious right.
Paul’s libertarian leanings have won him supporters among the young and tech-savvy, but he has yet to make inroads among Christian conservatives. The poor showing comes despite his attempts on Friday to appeal to the summit’s religious leanings.
The summit also asks participants which issues they care about most deeply.
“Protecting religious liberty” easily won that contest with 39 percent of the vote, followed by abortion and “protecting natural marriage.”
He’s not trying to please the majority of us. He’s trying to placate the majority of “THEM” and they are the political establishment. The “THEM” are billionaires like Paul E. Singer and Sheldon Adelson and their cohorts, the media, and of course the Washington GOP leadership structure. He’s trying to send the message to the king makers that he is ok. He is falling for the same false hope that Rubio did. There has been a tremendous effort to co-opt people like Rand, Cruz, Lee, and Rubio.
Fine and dandy. Let "THEM" vote him into higher office. Rand won't be getting my vote for anything.
If Paul was conservative, then he wouldn’t be promoting liberalism and telling republicans that they need to “evolve” into liberals.
I don’t think he will gain traction. I think he has hurt himself critically but what he could be used to do is deflate Cruz or another conservative which I have a strong suspicion is why he’s being trolled by the king makers. They want our vote split so Christie can get his shrinking fat self absorbed ass through the primaries.
Huh?
As a respected military hero and large landowner, he held local office and was elected to the Virginia provincial legislature, the House of Burgesses, beginning in 1758.
Washington opposed the 1765 Stamp Act, the first direct tax on the colonies, and began taking a leading role in the growing colonial resistance when protests against the Townshend Acts (enacted in 1767) became widespread. In May 1769, Washington introduced a proposal, drafted by his friend George Mason, calling for Virginia to boycott English goods until the Acts were repealed. Parliament repealed the Townshend Acts in 1770. However, Washington regarded the passage of the Intolerable Acts in 1774 as “an Invasion of our Rights and Privileges”.
In July 1774, he chaired the meeting at which the “Fairfax Resolves” were adopted, which called for the convening of a Continental Congress, among other things. In August, Washington attended the First Virginia Convention, where he was selected as a delegate to the First Continental Congress.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Washington
Palin, Cruz, or LOSE.
You are right. I forgot he was a member of the House of Burgesses. However there were several Presidents including Eisenhower who had held no previous elected office. My mistake was not double checking.
Five star General of the Army is a government position, believe me. The only two presidents I know of who never held “elective office” that I’m aware of are General of the Army Grant and General of the Army Eisenhower.
IMHO, the best, possible ‘16 GOP presidential ticket is: Sarah Palin/Ted Cruz, but I would be happy with Ted Cruz as the next POTUS. How will ANY, final, conservative GOP candidate for POTUS succeed in getting enough votes from all of the “blue” areas of the U.S. to, actually, win?
Taft and Hoover also weren’t elected.
I am hoping for Cruz 2016. Top of the ticket!
That is a very clear line of reasoning, in my opinion. The set-up is occurring right before our eyes.
Yep - if we aren't proactive in the buildup to the Primaries, we will once again end up with someone we don't particularly like and start the "blame the GOPe" game instead of taking action to prevent another Obama.
from the article:Coming in second was neurosurgeon Ben Carson, a political novice who has a large following in conservative circles but said earlier this week that there is a “strong” likelihood that he would run for president. He won 20 percent of the votes.
I like what i "know" about Ben Carson, but most of it is from articles he wrote. I would hope that we aren't doing our own version of the "race" thing like we did with Rubio and opting to like/believe in him because of the anomaly of being a minority who espouses conservative values.
That said, Carson, or even Rubio, would be preferable to anyone the Left opts for. I'm a big Cruz fan and hope he tosses his hat into the ring - I would dust off my checkbook to donate to him in a heartbeat.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.