And the Winner is…Bill Frist?
Pbbbsst – color me unimpressed:
Here are the just announced results of the straw poll from the Southern Republican Leadership Conference:
Senator Bill Frist 36.9%
Governor Mitt Romney 14.4%
Senator George Allen 10.3%
President Bush (write in) 10.3%
Senator John McCain 4.6%
Governor Mike Huckabee 3.8%
Frist? Well, I suppose…nah, I can’t do it. I can’t kid myself or you…Bill Frist has zero chance at the nomination, and less than zero at the Presidency.
This poll has no credibility whatsoever (I know it’s a straw poll, and not a public opinion poll – but still!).
If I’m wrong, tell me why…
Having seen Lil Willy Frists’ ( lack of ) leadership and (lack of ) nads, it’s safe to say he”’ be brushing up on surgical procedures again in the future.
Allen’s the Man. Mormons and their White Salamander won’t last in the artificial reality of the modern webworld, and McCain and Huckabee won’t pan out. Allen looks and sounds presidential.
I’m with OhioDude on most of that. I think Allen’s an empty suit – meaning the Allen talk will end soon enough – and it’s McCain’s nomination to lose. That’s not to say he won’t lose it, but he really has to be considered the front runner right now.
It’s funny how other blogs are painting this as reason #1938477 that McCain has no chance of winning the GOP nomination when, IMO, McCain actually was the winner here.
Frist came in first place in his homestate. So we throw his votes out automatically when 95% of those votes where his own people.
McCain told people that supported him to vote for Dubya. So add Dubya’s 147 votes to McCain’s 66 and you have 213 which but him in 2nd place.
The most interesting thing to me about this is how solidly Romney beat Allen. Allen should be able to beat Romney easily in the South.
I would handicap the race to the 2008 GOP nom this way:
1. McCain (and hid lead growing daily)
2. Romney
3. Allen
4. Huckabee
5. Frist
With Rice and Rudy not included.
As someone over in The Corner said, any poll that has Frist outdrawing Giuliani is a joke.
Frist has about the same inspirational skills that Bob Dole had, and he’s not even as effective a Senator.
The last line of Grant’s comment had Rudy and Condi in the same sentence–now there’s a ticket!
This vote reminds me of scout camp. Every day at breakfast one of the junior staff gets up and does “Useless information of the day”. Since I am not a scout camp now, this poll is the useless information of the day.
There was no way that the results of this straw poll could have been spun as good news for McCain, so the fact that the voters threw their support for such a credibility stretching longshot is actually good news for John, because the story is now how worthless the poll was, rather than the actual winner.
The poll is flawed for all the obvious reasons, but taken together with lots of other converging factors, a McCain/Romney race is developing, with all bets off if Rudy jumps in.
My take on the situation is here: http://davegop.redstate.com/story/2006/3/12/135358/856
Mike Huckabee gave the best speech at SRLC. His band Saturday night was the highlight of the meeting. When the others self-destuct, watch Huckabee to become the front runner.
Mitt Romney was the clear winner of that Straw Poll. Any other observations is strictly spin. Romney’s Friday speech was interrupted 3 times for standing ovations and he was the talk of the entire weekend.
Nathan
http://www.americansformitt.com
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