Bachmann wins Iowa straw poll

[King]

I'm so excited about Bachmann.  Finally, a good Christian true conservative will be the nominee of the GOP.

And we can finally put to rest the notion that the American people actually want that in a President.

[King]

I think Pawlenty is in it for the entire ordeal.  I don't think he'll drop out until after he gets under 5% in both Iowa and New Hampshire (and I firmly believe that that will happen).

Well, he's pretty much the Richardson of this cycle so that's a reasonable preiction.  Looks good on paper and clicking on no cylinders.

[King]

I'm interested to see how many participated in this week's festivities and still wrote in Rick Perry

[King]

Can we get some speculation/analysis in this thread from a non-hack who isn't backing a particular candidate?

[King]

Thadeus is on Fox News right now. I didn't realize he shaved his head.

By following Thaddeus, you no longer have any need for worldly possessions like hair.  Or Medicare.

Everything is Thaddeus.  Thaddeus is everything.  

Thaddeus.

[King]

from @daveweigel Paul campaign also sez 92% of the people who registered online w/ them for the straw poll showed up. So he's at least at 28%.

I think there was a lot of movement away from non-contenders to the big three in attendance of Bachmann, Romney, and Paul.  It could be likely that Paul received 5k votes and still lost.

[King]

Just announced within the hour...So now before 7...

Screw you guys, I'm going home.

[King]

Results: Bachmann 4823, Paul 4671, Pawlenty 2293, Santorum 1657, Cain 1456, Romney 567, Gingrich 385, Huntsman 69, McCotter 35

Damn, Paul was a few busloads away from stealing the show.  I think this is actually a decent showing for Santorum.  I really didn't expect him to break a 1000 votes.  Have the write-ins not been counted? Were there many?

[King]

Mitt Romney was a big loser today if 718 people were willing to write-in Perry, who totally gave the finger to the event.

[King]

Wow, pretty close. The Paul people will be crying foul, no doubt.

Im a Paul supporter, but I dont see how the ballot could be stuffed, with it being so close. So one will bitch and moan, but we have to get over it, we still did better then last time

It's straw poll, too.  Every single ballot cast was stuffing.

What about write-ins?

718 for Perry, as stated above.

[King]

from @FixAaron: "That's right folks, two members of the HOUSE just took the top two spots in Ames, and it wasn't close. "

That's true! is one of them the new Abraham Lincoln? hahahaha

Oh, and Santorum's not quitting. Obviously. Encouraging results for him

This is good news for Paul and Perry in many ways.  Pawlenty, Cain, and Santorum all did well enough to merit staying in the race, so Bachmann can't win Iowa easily with such a diluted field and maybe even Paul can win it with vote splitting.  Because of the lack of consensus in Iowa, South Carolina will probably become the state for the true Anti-Romney to emerge and that plays right into Rick Perry's hands.

There was zero "scattering" in the 2007 poll.

There was zero "write-ins" allowed in the 2007 poll.