Posted on 05/23/2015 12:12:28 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson won the presidential straw poll at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference in Oklahoma City on Saturday, beating out Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas).
Carson won 25.4 percent of the vote, while Walker took 20.5 percent and Cruz received 16.4 percent.
Other GOP presidential hopefuls and potential candidates finished far behind the top trio. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie finished a distant fourth with 5.3 percent of the vote, former Texas Gov. Rick Perry took 5 percent, and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush won 4.9 percent.
Winning the straw poll could provide a boost to Carson’s long-shot candidacy.
“The fact of the matter is that I believe our founders set up a system that wasn’t supposed to cater to a political class,” Carson said at the conference. “It was supposed to cater to the people.”
“We’ve got to stop making everything into a political issue,” he added. “Our unity is through our strength.”
Carson is looking to solidify a position in televised debates, with Fox News and CNN announcing they will limit the stage to 10 top candidates in national polls.
Carson has finished in the top 10 of several recent polls, but he recently decried the debate rules for excluding candidates.
“I am very worried that out of broadcasting convenience our party is about to exclude voices from our debate programs that are critical to making our party bigger, better, and bolder,” he wrote in a letter released Friday. “The rules may be good for me personally, but they are not good for the process.”
While straw polls can provide a snapshot of the candidates' standing among grassroots activists, they are generally poor predictors of success on the campaign trail.
Ron Paul won the Leadership Conference straw poll in 2011, but finished fourth in the GOP presidential primary.
Eleven presidential contenders were scheduled to attend this year's conference, but Cruz and Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.) were unable to attend in person due to late votes in the Senate Friday.
The two senators recorded video addresses to the conference instead. Cruz won last year’s straw poll, narrowly defeating Carson.
The poll results were first reported by The National Journal.
That’s it! Cruz has proven himself unworthy! He has lost my vote! /sarc
Thanks for the info. Nice job.
The meaning of is is.............?
I’ve worked for the government in four different categories, none of which were an elected position.
I might be wrong, but I think the rest of the country has had enough of the California donor class. I mean you get a reasonable seeming candidate, then some Log Cabin Libertarian-Republican-Whig micro-offended (but only every other Tuesday) amnesty whore donor or five gets a hold of them and the next thing you know they are spewing all this weird crap like Linda Blair with pea soup!
I don’t think it’s so much that Carson is black as it is that he has integrity and doesn’t seem to be clinically insane.
Please tell me who you’re referring to.
And a straw poll like this means very little...which is
why The Hill is trying to make it a big deal.
*****************
And here’s an earlier posting from Politico making a splash out of it.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3292900/posts
Ben Carson wins SRLC straw poll
All of them. You’ve got Cruz today saying how wonderful all of our lives will be if President Obama gets fast track authority in that big trade deal nobody is allowed to give the public the particulars about.
Gosh. I wonder what sent Ted Cruz’ poll numbers down so fast?
You don’t think conservatives caught wind of that fast track trade thing, do you?
how is that his fault?
name a candidate who’s more ‘perfect’ for your tastes/
We've had generals with no prior political experience.
You know , this wouldn't be a bad final three.
How is it his fault?
Could it be because he VOTED for it? Because he took to the media and flakked for it?
Selling out the middle class for dear leader’s secret trade deal might cause polling problems among conservatives. That whole “pass it so you can see what’s in it” thing.
You forgot your “30 pieces of silver” rant. You’re slipping.
Carson is a good man and probably a great man in the medical
world, but to hand over the reins of the country to this man? Cruz or Walker are far more qualified.
Yeah. Been a long day. Don’t worry. I’ll warm up to it.
yep, saw that one too.....the psy ops of the jurassic media.....
We mostly had lawyers as presidents. May be a doctor knows how to cure whats ailing the country.
Cruz’s main problem is not that he is not a great candidate.
Cruz is a great conservative candidate. But what wins election more than anything else is likability. Cruz’s main problem is candidates like Rubio and Carson and even Walker are more likable to political neophytes (which is most Americans).
I don’t believe the majority of presidents have been lawyers. But if so, so what? Do you actually want an individual who has never held office, worked for government or anything similar in charge of the world’s only superpower and largest economy? And why this particular doctor? Because he’s black?
My best guess as to why Carson is popular is because people are sick of career politicians.
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