If the Ames, Iowa, straw poll proves anything, it’s that the race for the Republican presidential nomination is in full swing. Congresswoman R-MN Michele Bachmann edged out Congressman R-TX Ron Paul by a mere 152 votes, with former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty taking third.
The straw poll, however, is less than scientific, and tends to reflect the effectiveness of the candidate’s campaigns more than anything. Bachmann’s campaign paid for Grammy Award-winning country musician Randy Travis to perform, bussed in his fans for free, and paid for 6,000 $30 tickets. Despite her best efforts, Bachmann only netted 4823 votes overall. That’s right — she only won 80 percent of the votes that she paid for. Ouch.
The bill for her slim victory comes to more than $1 million, which seems like a small price to pay for the amount of publicity it has gained her. Despite the fact that history says otherwise — the winner of the Ames straw poll has only twice won the Republican nomination and never the presidency — Bachmann is now a definite frontrunner for the Republican nomination, and she has been at the center of a media circus since the results came out.
That being said, I’m mystified as to why nobody’s talking about Paul, whose supporters turned out in full force and whose campaign seems to be as healthy as ever. Those 152 votes seem to be the difference between being the new frontrunner and fading back into media obscurity. Despite his lack of publicity, if Paul keeps with his apparent slow-and-steady policy, he might win the race after all. Well, probably not, really, but he might come close! And for a libertarian, “close” is pretty good.
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who according to polling data is the only Republican candidate who stands to give President Barack Obama a run for his money, declined to attend the straw poll (which he won in 2007). He subsequently took seventh place behind write-in candidate and Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who announced his candidacy in South Carolina on the day of the poll. This is unfortunate, because Romney is one of, if not the only, serious competitor in this race, but unsurprising, since he’s focused his campaign efforts elsewhere. Perry, however, should be a serious contender — he’s made a big splash despite his late entrance to the race, and clearly has some clout if he had so much success as a write-in.
Sixth place might be good enough for Perry’s campaign, but not for Tim Pawlenty, who dropped out of the race after taking third place. Pawlenty, formerly a frontrunner for the nomination, expected to sweep the poll and was understandably disappointed with his not-really-that-low placing. Sorry, T-Paw. Maybe next time you should hire a rock star and buy your votes. Seems to work for Bachmann.
