Frist wins straw poll, Romney makes strong showing
Reuters reports that Senator Bill Frist won the straw poll at this weekend’s Southern Republican Leadership Conference.
The surprisingly strong showing in the straw poll came from Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney. His 2nd place showing in the first choice straw poll and the 12% he garnered in the second choice poll is the talk of the rightie blogosphere: UNCoRRELATED, Captain Ed, GOP Bloggers, Alexander K. McClure at Polipundit provide more commentary.
Tom Bevan at Real Clear Politics has a good write up on how warmly Romney was received this weekend at the conference. James Joyner cautions against reading too much into the straw polls:
So, the nomination is Bill Frist’s to lose and John McCain is toast, right? And, despite all the worries about the “Mormon problem” especially among evangelicals, Mitt Romney is in pretty good shape, right?
Well, no. This is a straw poll. They might be a little fun but they’re not worth their weight in straw. As Steven Tay[l]or is fond of pointing out, Alan Keyes won one of these in Alabama in the last cycle. Shockingly, he did not win the nomination or, indeed, even do well in Alabama.
Joe Gandelman at The Moderate Voice has a link roundup.
Related Toldjah So post: