Rep. Bachmann Wins Iowa Straw Poll

[red states rule]

While I am happy with the results, the other big story is Paul finished second






Rep. Michele Bachmann won the Iowa Straw Poll Saturday, affirming her status as a top-tier candidate in the Republican race to challenge President Obama in 2012.

Bachmann received 28 percent of the vote. Texas Rep. Ron Paul was a close second with 27 percent. Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty came in a distant third with 13 percent of the vote, followed by former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum with 9 percent and businessman Herman Cain with 8 percent.


Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/08/13/finally-here-ames-straw-poll-first-test-2012/#ixzz1UxFl0uBf

[Gaffer]

Cool cause she's still top of my who to vote for list. Paul is still on my no way in hell list. Anyone that thinks iran should be allowed to have nukes if they want them has serious brain problems.

[red states rule]

Cool cause she's still top of my who to vote for list. Paul is still on my no way in hell list. Anyone that thinks iran should be allowed to have nukes if they want them has serious brain problems.

I like her as well Gaffer. She drives the liberal moonbats and Obama lap dogs up a wall. Which is fun to watch

I was also impressed with Gov Perry today when he threw his hat in the ring

A Bachmann/Perry or Perry/Bachmann ticket would be a good one in my book right now

[Gaffer]

Bachman will get the Tea party support and Perry can bring in the RINO's.

[revelarts]

Ron Paul the only real change candidate. Also won the thing.
I need to send him more dough.
Bauchmans a great lady, better than Palin IMO but I'm not sold, still to status quo for me on many issues.

(Paul wants to give Iran Nukes. :rolleyes: people see what they want to see i guess)

Glad to see the others.. except for Cain , so far behind. Romney knew he didn't have a clear win but he still gets most favored R MSM wise, sadly Perry is closing on that position. I don't think they are that different but at least I trust Romney, not Perry , I'll vote for Neither one.

[Gaffer]

Ron Paul the only real change candidate. Also won the thing.
I need to send him more dough.
Bauchmans a great lady, better than Palin IMO but I'm not sold, still to status quo for me on many issues.

(Paul wants to give Iran Nukes. :rolleyes: people see what they want to see i guess)

Glad to see the others.. except for Cain , so far behind. Romney knew he didn't have a clear win but he still gets most favored R MSM wise, sadly Perry is closing on that position. I don't think they are that different but at least I trust Romney, not Perry , I'll vote for Neither one.

Paul didn't say he would give iran nukes. He said they had a right to have them. Regardless of the fact they are fanatical nut jobs. He's an isolationist and history shows what that gets us.

I'm not big on Perry either and Romney is just the MSM choice. Huntsman is the DNC choice but he's not going anywhere. I would still kinda like a Bachman Cain ticket.

[red states rule]

Ron Paul the only real change candidate. Also won the thing.
I need to send him more dough.
Bauchmans a great lady, better than Palin IMO but I'm not sold, still to status quo for me on many issues.

(Paul wants to give Iran Nukes. :rolleyes: people see what they want to see i guess)

Glad to see the others.. except for Cain , so far behind. Romney knew he didn't have a clear win but he still gets most favored R MSM wise, sadly Perry is closing on that position. I don't think they are that different but at least I trust Romney, not Perry , I'll vote for Neither one.

Ron Paul is an idiot rev

When that bastard bellowed America brought 9/11 on itself he lost me for good.

I did like how Rudy ripped that asshoile a new one and the crowd cheered

I can see Paul saying "they" deserved it as people jumped 90 floors to ther death rather than burn alive

[red states rule]

Bachman will get the Tea party support and Perry can bring in the RINO's.

I don't care how they do it as long as they beat Obama

[red states rule]

What do the results mean? Who will go and who will stay?







snip
There's only so much you can tell from a straw poll result, but it is an early test of organization and voter enthusiasm, and Bachmann deserves credit for winning it. Earlier this week, I had predicted that Rep. Ron Paul's rabid supporters would put him over the top. He came close, but Bachmann still edged him out 4,823 to 4,671. Still a strong showing for Paul, but this is likely to be his finest hour. As the campaign goes on and the electorate expands, his performance is likely to diminish due to his eccentric persona and foreign policy views that are outside the mainstream of the Republican Party.

For former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, it was a rough day. Not only did Perry's entrance into the race make it more difficult for him to establish himself as the Romney alternative, but he finished a distant third, at 2,293 votes -- or less than half as many as Paul. While it's a respectable enough performance to stave off calls for him to drop out of the race, it's unlikely to provide the sort of momentum boost he needed coming out of Ames. All along, it was hard to see a path to the nomination if Pawlenty didn't win Iowa (or at least come really close), and it's more difficult to see that happening now, especially with Perry's entrance.

Former Sen. Rick Santorum (1,657) and former Godfather’s Pizza CEO Herman Cain (1,456) likely did well enough for them to stay in the race, given they're running more scaled-down operations. But Cain is unlikely to emerge as anything more than a niche candidate, though he may have done more damage in a pre-Bachmann world.

But really, after Bachmann's win, the big story is going to be that Perry earned 718 votes as a write-in candidate compared to 567 for Romney, who did not contest the straw poll, but was on the ballot nonetheless. Coming on top of his successful announcement speech in South Carolina, Perry has really put the frontrunner on notice, and couldn't ask for a better rollout. He's is in New Hampshire now, and will hit Iowa tomorrow and Monday. We'll have to see whether Iowans are forgiving about Perry stepping on the straw poll with his campaign announcement today, and whether he threatens Bachmann in her home state.

As for other candidates, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich had 385 votes, former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman had 69, and Rep. Thaddus McCotter, R-Mich. had 35.



http://campaign2012.washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/what-ames-straw-poll-results-mean

[red states rule]

The first one to call it quits is T-Paw. I wonder if Ms Bachmann is having a good laugh over this?







Ex-Minn. Gov. Tim Pawlenty ends White House bid

Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty dropped out of the race for the GOP presidential nomination on Sunday, hours after finishing a disappointing third in the Iowa straw poll.

"I wish it would have been different, but obviously the pathway forward for me doesn't exist so we are going to end the campaign," Pawlenty said on ABC's "This Week" from Iowa.

The low-key Midwesterner, who had struggled to gain traction in a state he had said he must win, had told supporters on <NOBR>a conference call (http://www.debatepolicy.com/#)</NOBR> shortly before the broadcast interview that he was ending his White House bid.

"I thought I would have made a great president, but obviously that pathway isn't there," Pawlenty said. "I do believe we're going to have a very good candidate who is going to beat Barack Obama (http://www.sfgate.com/barack-obama/)."

The two-term ex-governor of a Democratic-leaning state was on Arizona Sen. John McCain's short list for the vice presidential spot in 2008. He had spent roughly two years laying the groundwork for his 2012 campaign and had hoped to become the alternative to the national front-runner, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.


Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2011/08/14/politics/p054559D49.DTL#ixzz1V0f0xRQu





Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2011/08/14/politics/p054559D49.DTL#ixzz1V0ekgZ00