Ron Paul Wins Exit Poll for Iowa Straw Poll

voteinsunshine.blogspot.com

As if it couldn't get much worse with Mary Mosiman connected to the Romney for President Leadership Team. We now have the results from the Vote in Sunshine Coalition exit poll where Ron Paul clearly won!

Ron Paul 332

Tom Tancredo 150

Mike Huckabee 187

Fred Thompson 8

Tommy Thompson 39

Mitt Romney 90

Duncan Hunter 12

Hillary Clinton 1

John McCain 5

Sam Brownback 62

John Cox 4

Dennis Kucinich 1

Rudy Giuliani 6

Total 897


This shows us that Ron Paul got nearly 37% of the votes cast. This exit poll only recorded 6% of the votes, which is very low. However, I believe there is a bit of a discrepancy here with Ron Paul's total in the official poll. Nine percent and 37% are a huge difference. Now unfortunately, this exit poll is not scientific and it did only get 6% of the total votes made in the straw poll. If it had captured 40-50%, then this information would be more accurate and could be used to stir up an investigation. Regardless though, we need to take another look at these voting machines and Mary Mosiman's role in this straw poll.

I blame my horrible sinus infection for not fully understanding all of this. It is wrong for Ron Paul's official campaign volunteers to be involved in this exit poll. However, I thought it was said that Ron Paul's campaign was telling his supporters not to be involved. I apologize for the misunderstanding. If Ron Paul's campaign were involved this would be a conflict of interest too and it would be no better than what Romney did.

Campaign: Statement on Iowa Straw Poll

On behalf of Dr. Ron Paul and his wife Carol, and the Ron Paul 2008 campaign staff, I thank our supporters and volunteers in Iowa and throughout the country for the strong showing in the Iowa straw poll. We are pleased and encouraged by the results.

We have the three ingredients for success:
1. The message: freedom, peace and prosperity.
2. The man: Ron Paul.
3. You.

Our campaign has begun.

Kent Snyder
Chairman, Ron Paul 2008
http://www.ronpaul2008.com

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Sorry Kent Snyder I will have to disagree with you on this one.
Is the Ron Paul campaign investigating the results of the straw poll? I certainly hope so and if not, why?

• Why Mr. Snyder is the campaign acting like 5th place is a good showing at the Iowa Straw poll?
• Why Mr. Snyder is evidence of possible conflicts of interest being ignored?
• Why Mr. Snyder was action not taken before the straw poll to put pressure on certain individuals to ensure fraud could not occur?
• Were the voting machine failures looked into or are we believing Mary Mosiman and David Vaudt who are friends of the Romney campaign?
  
• Why Mr. Snyder is the Ron Paul campaign allowing the Iowa GOP and Story County Auditor walk over them with their demand of $184,000 for a recount?
  

Please help me understand why I should spend hours a week supporting Ron Paul. Especially after a straw poll that was run by a Romney Leadership Team member, which was allowed to continue without any resistance from the Ron Paul campaign?

If we cannot agree that there was potential fraud in a non-binding straw poll, then how exactly are we going to win a Primary or Caucus where fraud is even more likely because of higher stakes?

Perhaps your campaign will pay more attention to the concerns of your supporters rather than letting them out to dry. I tried to warn you, but no one wanted to listen.

Mike Huckabee Wins, Ron Paul Loses

Donklephant.com

Well, Mitt actually placed first, and that was to be expected.

But what wasn’t expected is that Ron Paul would lose to Huckabee, Brownback and Tom “Bomb Mecca” Trancedo.

From the Des Moines Register…

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee had said his campaign’s future depended on a strong showing in Ames. He finished in second place, with 2,587 votes or 18.1 percent. Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas placed third with 2,192 votes, 15.3 percent after campaigning aggressively to be the choice of the Iowa GOP’s influential social conservatives.

“Obviously this was an incredible day and victory for us,” Huckabee said. “What happened for us today was stunning.”

Huckabee said he and his campaign staff had been saying they had momentum and it proved true.

“We overperformed,” he said. “The bigger story is we did it with not a dime of paid advertising.”

Kudos to Huckabee and his team. He could be the dark horse in this campaign, as he’s been getting high marks from voters for his earnestness and likability. Seems like a guy they think they can trust.

Getting back to Ron Paul, I really do think this is a big blow for his campaign. A strong showing here would have rocketed him into the mediasphere, but losing to Tancredo? It means he remains an internet oddity, somebody that the media and the other candidates can dismiss as just a guy who figured out how to create some buzz on the internet.

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A few days before the vote, people were saying RP would take 2nd or 3rd. That sounded about right to me.

I am not sure who planted this idea in the RP supporters that 5th place is good. It's not good. We lost guys! The media is telling us we did good, but I ensure you we did not. If we cannot win a straw poll how exactly are we going to win a Primary or Caucus?

Also those machines really troubled me too and it just so happens that a company who tracks billions and billions of dollars a day in their ATMs can't seem to count 14,000 ballots. Ahem...sure they can't. They can't when they don't want to.

Now what happens with these results is that the field is NOT going to be any smaller. Tancredo, Huckabee, Brownback will all be on the stage till the Primaries. The debates will still be crowded giving the candidates a small amount of speaking time. Perhaps Ron Paul won't be invited to them now with his "victory" of 5th place. It almost makes me laugh saying that.

I agree completely with Justin's take on this. Ron Paul is finished. The supporters may still go "rah rah" and hold signs on intersections, but this was the first and last test of Ron Paul. This may be harsh, but 5th place is pathetic especially in a race where 2 of the frontrunners were not even present. We lost to "2nd tier" candidates, so where does that put Ron Paul?

A Partial Recount Confirmed

Marc Ambinder

AMES -- Mary Tiffany, an Iowa Republican Party official, confirms that at least one voting machine malfunctioned and that tabulators recounted at least 1500 ballots.

The state party rented optical scan machines from Diebold, a company at the center of several recent voting controversies. Recently, the state of California de-certified Diebold machines for the 2008 election.

Yesterday, Iowans who support Ron Paul failed to get a judge to require a voter-verified paper ballot be used in today's straw poll. Separately, the state party told the Paul campaign that a full paper recount would cost $184,000.

Already, some Paul supporters are whispering about a challenge.

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I think the results are pretty far fetched and it is worth a challenge. I really hope the Ron Paul campaign does not let them walk all over them. This needed to be addressed BEFORE the straw poll and it wasn't. I was called the wacko, weirdo, or the person hurting the campaign.

Here we are now after the poll, where the winners are announced all over TV and radio and TV interviews are being set up as I type. Instead of being proud of the results I would guess that every single Ron Paul supporter, in the back of their minds, are questioning the results. In my opinion, we are in a worse position challenging this after than we would have if we challenged it before hand.

This should be a learning experience for everyone involved.

Straw Poll Results

Rightsfield.com

1. Mitt Romney 4,516 31.6%
2. Mike Huckabee 2,587 18.1%
3. Sam Brownback 2,192 15.3%
4. Tom Tancredo 1,960 13.7%
5. Ron Paul 1,305 9.1%
6. Tommy Thompson 1,039 7.3%
7. Fred Thompson 203 1.4%
8. Rudy Giuliani 183 1.3%
9. Duncan Hunter 174 1.2%
10. John McCain 101 0.7%
11. John Cox 41 0.3%

Oh, and there were major voting machine problems. Thank you, Diebold!

Straw Poll Voting Machine Failures

Marc Ambinder

AMES -- The announcement of tonight's straw poll results has been delayed due to what one informed source says was a voting machine malfunction. About 4,500 ballots had to be re-run.

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The results were delayed due to a voting machine failure. Oh gee! Isn't this what we were trying to tell people BEFORE the straw poll? These machines are not reliable. No one wanted to listen, but maybe they will now. Paper ballots put in clear boxes is the MOST reliable method out there.

Since we know what the unofficial results are the large number of votes that needed to be re-run is quite significant. That is 32% of the votes and let's not forget Romney only got 4516 votes... Therefore, 4500 votes is quite significant no matter how you look at it.

Amazing Speech on C-Span

I don't know what made me think to turn on C-Span's live broadcast from the Iowa Straw poll, but when I did it was the one and only, Ron Paul.

He sounded amazing. He was firm, strong, and his voice was thunderous!

The speech literally brought tears to my eyes and the enthusiasm in the room was spectacular. It makes me wish I was there right now to help my fellow Ron Paul supporters. After that victorious speech Ron Paul just gave, if that doesn't persuade you to vote for him, I doubt anything would.

If you want to watch live, see this link. And click on whatever format suits you.