Huckabee Wins Voters Values Conference Straw Poll: 4 Way Tie for Second

This year at the Voters Values Summit Mike Huckabee won the straw poll with 28%. This is no surprise as he has been the darling of this crowd since at least 2007. The conference also only allowed in person voting so that people couldn't vote online. If this had been done in 2007 Mike Huckabee would have won the straw poll then. He took second place in 2007.

Second place was a virtual four way tie. Second, third, fourth, and fifth place were each separated by just one vote. Mitt Romney took 74 votes and 12.4%, Pawlenty 73 votes 12.23%, Palin 72 votes and 12.06%, and Pence 71 votes and 11.89%. Newt Gingrich, Bobby Jindal, Ron Paul, and Rick Santorum were also on the ballot and took 23.42% combined.

Clearly the top five candidates in this straw poll all have potential with values voters. It will be interesting to see how things unfold, who actually runs, who endorses who, and ultimately who the Republican Party nominates.

Dr. Ergun Caner gave an excellent speech before the straw poll results were anounced on the importance of one person. The results show us once again how much one person can impact politics. With only 597 votes out of 1897 eligible voters anyone could have easuily found an extra 10-20 votes for their candidate to give them a strong second place finish.

Next big straw polls, CPAC 2010, and Values Voters 2010.

Pat Toomey vs. Arlen Specter

In 2004 Pat Toomey challenged Arlen Specter for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate. With the help of Rick Santorum and President Bush, Arlen Specter won by just 2 points. Since being reelected in 2004 Arlen Specter has become very unpopular with Republicans for his stances. He did a poor job as judiciary chairman, allowing nominees to go without a committee vote for extended periods of time. However most recently he helped Obama pass his 787 Billion stimulus bill.

This and other actions have lead to a very negative opinion of Arlen Specter by Pennsylvania voters. In a Rasmussen poll released yesterday Pat Toomey lead Specter 51% to 31%. Specter's negatives 55% while Toomey's were only19%. These are pretty one sided polling results. If Toomey decides to run it sure looks like Obama will lose an ally, and one more RINO will no longer be in the U.S. Senate.

When it comes to liberal Republicans, a liberal Republican from a blue distrct is fine, but a liberal Republican who undermines his caucus like Specter has deserves to be primaried. I hope Pat Toomey is successful in 2010 and becomes part of an amazing Republican Senate class of 2010.