TX Straw Poll: Duncan Hunter Wins, Fred Takes Second
By BigRedTent Posted in 2008 — Comments (4) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
Many of the booths at today's Texas Straw Poll were giving away prizes, however, you had to be present to win. Presidential candidate Duncan Hunter got that message loud and clear. After being one of the few candidates to make the trip to Fort Worth this weekend, Duncan Hunter won today's Republican Straw Poll with 41.1% of the 1300 votes. Fred Thompson, the soon to be candidate, came in second with 20.5% beating out the candidate whose supporters were the most visible, Ron Paul, who's 16.7% put him in third place.
Although Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney are both polling well nationally, neither made a strong showing in Texas today. Rudy netted a paltry 6% and Mitt only garnered 4.7%. John McCain, whose numbers have been falling as a result of his stance on immigration, only received 8 votes, less than 1% of votes cast today.
I'm not sure anyone could have predicted that Hunter would win here in Texas. As I was surveying the delegates in line waiting to vote, some of them had Ron Paul stickers, some had "I'm with Fred" buttons, but very few were visually supportive of Duncan Hunter. All weekend long the Ron Paul supporters have been so active, so pervasive that many believed his win was a sure thing. It seems that much of his support came from people here who could not actually vote in today's straw poll.
Does this give Duncan Hunter a boost in the national picture? Probably not. Since Texas' primary is so late in the 2008 game, falling in the middle of March, Texans may get little say in who the final nominee is for their party.
Republicans here did seem to come away with a bit of excitement though for the upcoming election cycle. Many of the candidates who spoke here this weekend urged Republicans to get involved, and not sit on the sidelines as many did in 2006. Michael Williams, on of the State's Railroad Commissioners and an African American, noted, "Democrats can't beat us if we show up in November." He urged attendees to commit to candidate then to call and walk on their behalf. Of the voters here in Fort Worth today, it seems that at least for now, they've committed to Duncan Hunter.
For more coverage from Fort Worth and to donate to presidential candidates like Mitt Romney, Fred Thompson and Ron Paul, visit Big Red Tent today.
Ron Paul was robbed by Texas straw poll!!!!
In my opinion, Rep. Hunter is everything people WANT Fred Thompson to be, plus experience. He's great. I would be proud to support him if he was our nominee.
Here's why this straw poll doesn't matter as much as Iowa, though: Not only were there many less people at this one (Around 1,300?), ONLY Duncan Hunter and Ron Paul chose to play. Iowa was missing Fred, Rudy, and McCain, but this poll was missing them as well as Huckabee, Brownback, Romney, and Tancredo. (Plus, Tommy Thompson was still playing in Iowa.)
It's too bad. My top three are Huckabee, Hunter, and McCain.
Hint to Rep. Hunter: calling a tax a tariff doesn't lessen the bite on my wallet, thank you very much.
Funny how your top three all want to raise my taxes...
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I voted Harry Browne in 2000, but will never vote Ron Paul.
As a Texas resident myself, I find this to be a pleasant surprise. I wish he really could be a major candidate in the race. He is the ONLY one running that I like. I also think he represents the party and conservatives in general better than any of the others.
Texas wanted to move the primary earlier, but the state legislature went berserk this session.