Paul Pulverizes Field in Republican Leadership Conference Straw Poll

Texas Rep. Ron Paul, who delivered a fiery speech to the Republican Leadership Conference yesterday, won a resounding victory in the organization’s presidential straw poll earlier today, defeating his nearest rival, Jon Huntsman, by 230 votes.

Paul, who has won a string of straw polls in his quest for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, received 612 votes to 382 for the former Utah governor, whose relatively strong second-place finish came as something of a surprise to most pundits.

Huntsman, who is expected to officially declare his candidacy on Tuesday, was unable to attend the event due to a bad cold, but his wife, Mary Kaye, and several campaign advisers made the trip to New Orleans to talk up his candidacy.

Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, a darling of the Tea Party movement, finished third in the straw poll with 191 votes. Pizza magnate Herman Cain, coming off a relatively unimpressive performance in Monday’s televised debate in New Hampshire, finished fourth with 104 votes, some thirty votes ahead of GOP frontrunner Mitt Romney, who eked out a meager 74 votes. Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich received 69 votes while Sarah Palin, the former Alaska governor who has kept everybody guessing about her 2012 intentions, was preferred by 41 of those taking part in the straw poll.

Former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania finished in eighth place with 30 votes, followed by former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty — a no-show at the conference — who finished in ninth place with 18 votes, barely ahead of Gary Johnson, the libertarian-minded ex-governor of New Mexico who received ten votes in the balloting. 

Buddy Roemer, the former Louisiana governor whose nuanced speech decrying the corrosive influence of special interest money in American politics largely fell on deaf ears, garnered nine votes in the straw poll while U.S. Rep. Thad McCotter of Michigan, a witty, guitar-playing conservative who’s contemplating joining the race, received two votes from the nearly 2,000 participants attending the conference.