This isn’t entirely a surprise given the energetic response to his speech on Thursday, but Mitt Romney won the CPAC straw poll by a small margin:
WASHINGTON (CNN) – Former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney narrowly beat John McCain, 35 to 34 percent, in a straw poll of conservative political activists gathered Saturday in Washington — a vote that is viewed as a barometer of support from that major GOP voting bloc.
The announcement of Romney’s win was greeted by cheers from the crowd at the Conservative Political Action Conference. McCain is the frontrunner for the Republican nomination.
Roughly three-quarters of the votes in the three-day CPAC 2008 straw poll were cast before Mitt Romney dropped out of the presidential race, and one-quarter after his withdrawal.
In votes cast before Romney left the race, he beat McCain 44 to 27 percent. Among votes gathered after Romney’s withdrawal, McCain led Romney 37 to 32 percent.
There’s already a lot of buzz about Romney’s political future — whether it’s in 2012, or 2016 and this is likely to add to that. For a lot of reasons, not the least being that the two men clearly don’t like each other, I think the idea of a McCain-Romney ticket is pretty much a fantasy.
February 9th, 2008 at 9:03 pm
I sure wish Mitt Romney would reconsider running with McCain. It would make it so much easier to swallow and pull the lever. They would make an awesome team.
Please put your personal differences to the side for the American people.
February 10th, 2008 at 8:13 am
A very loud signal to John McCain that he needs to reach out to conservatives.