Huckabee finishes second in Ames Iowa Straw Poll

Saturday marked a turning point in the race for the Republican presidential nomination.  Mike Huckabee is about to receive a huge bounce in the polls after finishing second in the Ames Iowa Straw Poll, which was taken at Iowa State University.

We all knew Mitt Romney was going to win -- so that is not news.  With Giuliani, Thompson and McCain not competing in the poll, this event presented an opportunity for Sam Brownback, Mike Huckabee, Tom Tancredo, Ron Paul, Tommy Thompson, or Duncan Hunter to win second, receive instant media attention, and perhaps vault ahead into the top-tier.

But after a day-long, carnival-like atmosphere filled with crazy voting irregularities, we have the results:

Mitt Romney -- 4516 (31.5%)
Mike Huckabee -- 2587 (18.1%)
Sam Brownback -- 2192 (15.3%)
Tom Tancredo -- 1961 (13.7%)
Ron Paul -- 1305 (9.1%)
Tommy Thompson -- 1039 (7.3%)
Fred Thompson -- 203 (1.4%)
Rudy Giuliani -- 183 (1.3%)
Duncan Hunter -- 174 (1.2%)
John McCain -- 101 (1%)
John Cox -- 41 (0.1%)

So again, the big winner was Mike Huckabee, who got second place.  The biggest loser was Tommy Thompson, who warned earlier this week that a poor showing in the poll would lead him to drop out of the race.  Duncan Hunter, who finished near the very bottom, might consider the same decision.  Decisions about potential drop-outs could be made as soon as tomorrow.

A few side items worthy of mention:

• Ron Paul's wife was hospitalized this morning with an irregular heartbeat.  "Her heart rate dropped to a dangerously low rate, and she was taken to the hospital," a Ron Paul's spokesman said.  Our prayers and well-wishes are with the Paul family.
• About 14,000 votes were cast for this poll.  GOP officials had expected 30,000.
• I'd like to welcome visitors from the Mike Huckabee for President web page.  They linked to one of our stories earlier today.  I am quite surprised, since this is a progressive-leaning site.  But still, welcome everyone!

Comments

[Jon]

And the winner is...Mitt for brains and his 5 soldiering sons! Romney has spent loads of cash and conscripted his sons into Winnebago service to create this momentum, lets see what he does with it. I don't like anyone in the top 3 and I only slightly admire Ron Paul. You called it well Todd with Huckabee being 2nd. Not a very interesting field at all which is probably why only 14k of the expected 30k bothered to vote.

The straw poll isn't as important as the caucus but look at McCain and Giuliani. Bottom of the Barrel! Maybe I was wrong about Giuliani altogether but it looks like McCain will soon be folding that blanket over his knees and getting down to some hardcore rocking in front of the fireplace!