The Iowa Straw Poll - Romney wins; Huckabee snags second

The ex-Governor

Mitt Romney won the Ames straw poll this weekend because a) he was dogged; and b) he has money.


The Governor

With a somewhat convincing victory in the Republican straw poll in Ames, Iowa Saturday, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney launched himself into the next phase of a presidential nomination battle pitting his traditional early-state strategy against a more unorthodox (a/k/a wacky) approach by national front-runner Rudolph W. Giuliani.

Romney's win in the nonbinding Ames contest, sealed by his appeals to the party's conservative base and throwing money all around the state, highlighted his attempt to focus time and people on the opening states of Iowa and New Hampshire, in hopes early victories there will give him The Big Mo. It's worked plenty of times before, but this one is looking to be a strange race indeed.

Giuliani, who is in the doghouse with the traditional GOP folks, and the Neocons, ducked Iowa and is placing his bets on the big states that hold their contests in late January and on the first Tuesday in February.

Romney said the margin of victory represented a major validation of his strategy (saturation coverage of the states + big money infusions. Since three of his major rivals skipped the poll, Romney visited the state 17 times, spent big, and emerged the victor.

In a press conference, Romney taunted the missing. “It’s too bad the other guys weren’t competing here… but they ‘d have played if they thought they could have won,” he said.

Second place went to Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas. “We had two fish and five loaves and it fed 5,000,” Huckabee said of his victory. Whether this enables Huckabee to raise huis national profile and raise the all important $$$ remains to be seen. Huck doesn't seem to like fund raising much, and he has virtually no internet visibility.

Several of the second and third tier candidates came close to betting the farm on Iowa and came up with bupkus. Former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson, had earlier said he would drop out of the race if he did not place at least second. See you around, Tommy.
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