Free Republic

Mitt Romney won the presidential straw poll Saturday at the Conservative Political Action Conference, an unofficial endorsement from party activists that nevertheless helps the former Massachusetts governor burnish his conservative image. The Republican presidential candidate won with 38 percent of the vote at the Washington conference, the leading annual meet-up of American conservatives. The victory breaks a two-year winning streak by Ron Paul.

Take Sarah Palin and Mike Huckabee out of the 2012 presidential mix, says Al Cardenas, new chair of the American Conservative Union: If they were serious about running, "they'd probably be here." Interviewed at the end of the second busy day of his organization's Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, Cardenas dismissed the chances of the two high-profile no-shows. "Both Mike Huckabee and Sarah Palin would be formidable contenders, but are unlikely to be nominees," he told On Calll. "But my sense I they're not serious about running because I would think they'd probably be here if they were."