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 Carsons long-shot candidacy.
The fact of the matter is that I believe our founders set up a system that wasnt supposed to cater to a political class, Carson said at the conference. It was supposed to cater to the people.
Weve 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 years straw poll, narrowly defeating Carson.
The poll results were first reported by The National Journal.
Actually I liked Herman Cain better. He was much more vibrant speaker. Too bad for all those Chicago bimbo eruptions. Why him? Because he is actually running for nomination, appearing on TV frequently, and people must like what they see and hear.
Likability wins more than anything in a presidential contest.
You all want to get the media and academia off our backs about being Teathuglican racist KKK members. And it wont work. If the Republicans somehow elected a minority president and vice president with a totally minority cabinet and congressional leadership the attacks and accusations would not stop for a moment.
Then there’s this:
From bad to worse: Dr. Ben Carson cannot be trusted on gun rights
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3161644/posts
The Barack Obama win had a racial ingredient in it. Call it white guilt. Carson is opposite of Obama. Carson talks about hard work and self reliance. Obama talks about spreading the wealth to those who fail to succeed. White liberals will not vote for Carson because they hate “self-reliance”.
I’m vegetarian, I eat mostly corn, which has been re-processed into cows, chickens and pigs. Sometimes a drink corn.
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.