Fred Thompson Wins, Ron Paul Second in South Carolina Straw Poll

UusaElectionPolls.com ^ | 7/28/07 | Tom Swatzel, Georgetown County SC Republican Party

[not bad at all]

You might be right, but Hillary will. Congrats!

[Law is not justice but process]

I was there and it was quite obvious that the Ron Paul people put on a maximum effort to win this poll. There were Ron Paul supporters from Virginia, North Carolina and other foreign lands. They brought in Ron Paul supporters from as far away as Spartanburg County (only those with SC Drivers Licenses could vote, so the out-of-staters must have just been organizers). I suspect the 40 votes Paul drew represents most of his supporters in the state. It was a nice showing by the Paul people of their organizing ability, but also a pretty strong indicator that there just aren’t that many of them out there.

The real enthusiasm in the crowd was for Fred. I was there to support the non-candidate and was a bit surprised by how many who were there supported him before he even has a real campaign. The Fred supporters were locals (well, Georgetown and Horry counties, but that is still closer than Spartanburg), and are rearing to go when a campaign actually begins.

Oddly enough, McCain and Guiliani put very little effort into the thing. They actually have campaign organizations and either one could have taken the poll just by bringing in campaign staff and family from across the state. Romney made a strong showing, and Duncan Hunter's spokesman gave the best speech (What a better world we would live in if Duncan Hunter was the California Representative serving as Speaker of the House).

The overall message of the poll, however, was that a non-candidate blew all the declared candidates out of the water. We are ready when Fred is . . . and I hope that is soon.

[George W. Bush]

A nice RP speech from the well of the House that demonstrates his record and appeal. Not only is funding foreign abortions and population control a ripoff of the taxpayers, it is also constitutionally prohibited. Not in some derived court decision but blatantly prohibited by the Constitution.

With Ron Paul, the Constitution is the path to conservative traditional principles in a D.C. where both parties are the parties of big-government. I wish more "conservatives" here understood this as well.

If the two major parties were ice cream, Republicans are vanilla. And Democrats are French vanilla.

[George W. Bush]

Nice personal report on the action.

My understanding is that this was the first straw poll event held by the county chairman. So being sparsely attended is no big surprise.

Every county chairman in the country wants to hold straw polls to raise money for county candidates and have a story on the party to fax to the media outlets. That is the real purpose of them.

[NavyCanDo]

Fred’s been on top here on the opposite end of the country with Republican party loyalist for some time. This Straw Poll was taken at the King County (WA) GOP Convention in May 07

Fred Thompson was the runaway winner, taking half of all votes cast. Clearly the other candidates have some work to do to match the support that former Sen. Thompson is receiving from grassroots activists.
...
Fred Thompson 50%
Mitt Romney 16%
Rudy Giuliani 15%
Duncan Hunter 10%
John McCain 5%
Tom Tancredo 1%
Tommy Thompson 1%
Mike Huckabee 1%
Newt Gingrich <1%

[svcw]

I guess you could look at it like that.
Really how much wait do straw polls have anyway except for the supporters.

[hunter112]

Seeing Ron Paul in second place in that poll is enough evidence for me to know that this poll is on crack. ;)

Yes, it was, but it was fun seeing Giuliani sink below Duncan Hunter, just for once! I'm not a Hunter Head, but I really despise Rooty!

[Designer]

"Fred Thompson Wins...

B..Bu..But...

He's an abortion lobbyist, and he has a "trophy" wife, and he has an open-borders anti-semitic campaign manager, and his campaign staff is falling apart, and he's indecisive, and he's lazy, and he once worked for Howard Baker, and Nixon thought he was dumb, and he tipped off Nixon, and he's only an actor, and he never did anything in the Senate, and he's being "groomed by the Bush Administration", and -- possibly worst of all -- he has "no fire in the belly."

Have I forgotten anything?"

Yes; FDT is also a member of the CFR.

But you also could have added:

He beat Rudy BAD!

Which is good.

[Chena]

LOL!

[Chena]

Well, well, well....why am I not surprised at the poll’s outcome. LOL Thank you for the info. :)

[Designer]

"He is a member of CFR and secretly wants the US to surrender all its sovereignty to global government."

"secretly"?

SECRETLY?

If over a million people know about the CFR's intent, one could hardly call it a secret!

[Politicalmom]

At my GOP Independence day straw poll, it was thought that Ron Paul supporters were brought in from surrounding counties, as well.

Fred had half a table with no signs and won handily. (Of course, my adorable daughters were passing out Thompson stickers may have helped a bit. :)

[Law is not justice but process]

“Of course, my adorable daughters were passing out Thompson stickers may have helped a bit.”

Ah, an answer to the Obama girls. Sign them up for the non-campaign!

[FlashBack]

There’s one for the ole Fred White and Blue!

[mnehring]

You forgot that he is behind the NWO conspiracy and he is nicknamed Dr. No..

[mnehring]

Let me correct this for you:

If over a million people think they know about the CFR's intent just like millions knew about the bildbergers, trilateralls, illuminists, skull and bones, NWO, rockfellers, and space aliens, one could hardly call it a secret more like an archetype that never dies- only changes players!

[billbears]

Interesting. The only person who’s ahead of Rep. Paul is the one who hasn’t announced whether he’s running or not.

[apocalypto]

Ron Paul makes far more sense than Senator McCain and Rudolph Giuliani has a huge credibility problem and the wrong stand on border security and gun ownership.

[Chena]

I respect your opinion but I think that Ron Paul is a kook.

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

but I think that Ron Paul is a kook.

His burgeoning supporters from across the political spectrum say otherwise.