Romney Wins Straw Poll

From MSNBC.com:

Romney wins Iowa straw poll

AMES, Iowa - Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney won an
easy and expected victory in a high-profile Iowa Republican
Party Straw Poll on Saturday, claiming nearly twice as many
votes as his nearest rival. Romney had been expected to
win the test because he spent millions of dollars and months
of effort on an event that was skipped by two of his major
rivals. Romney scored 4,416 votes to outpace former Arkansas
Gov. Mike Huckabee who had 2,587 votes. Kansas Sen. Sam
Brownback was third with 2,192 votes. Announcement of the
results was delayed for 90 minutes because a hand count
was required on one of the 18 machines. The biggest loser
of the evening likely was former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson,
who finished in 6th place with 1,039 votes. He had said
repeatedly that if he didn't finish in the top two his campaign
was likely to end. He left the event before the results
were announced, and there was no announcement from his campaign.

The missing big names got only a handful of votes. Former
Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee got 203 votes. He was on
the ballot, although not an officially declared candidate.
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani received 183 votes
and Sen. John McCain of Arizona got 101. Romney claimed
the prize he had spent so much effort to win. "The people
of this great state have sent a message to the rest of the
country," said Romney. "Change starts in Iowa." Huckabee
said his showing was impressive because he had little money
to spend. "You have taken a minimum amount of resources
and made a maximum amount of gain," Huckabee told backers.
..

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