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.
Comments
Thank goodness!!!
thank goodness that Ron Paul didn't win. the lighter crowd was bad enough. If Ron Paul won the TX GOP would have become even more important in this presidential election than it already is.