Pence edges out Huckabee, Romney in conservatives' straw poll for president

[Omaha Steve]

Source: LA Times

Indiana Rep. Mike Pence is the top choice in a field of more well-known GOP figures, including Newt Gingrich and Sarah Palin, with 24% of the vote at this weekend's Values Voter Summit.

By Michael A. Memoli, Tribune Washington Bureau

Reporting from Washington —
Indiana Rep. Mike Pence was the top choice for president among conservative activists who attended this weekend's Values Voter Summit in Washington, edging out a field of more well-known Republican figures in an early test of grass-roots support.

Pence, chair of the House Republican conference, received 24% of the vote, edging the winner of the 2009 straw poll, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who received 22%. Each addressed the gathering on Friday, as did third-place finisher Mitt Romney, who won 13% of the vote.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who spoke Saturday, received 10%. Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who did not attend, finished a distant fifth with 7%.

Of the nearly 2,000 people who registered for the conference, 723 voted in the straw poll. Family Research Council President Tony Perkins, whose group organized the event, said the results were "descriptive of the type of candidate value voters would be looking for."


Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-0918-values-voter-summit-20100918,0,6342096.story

[MrModerate]

1. Well, Pence does have a shred of credibility . . .

by comparison, anyway, in that he's not Gingrich, Palin, Huckabee, Romney, or Jindal.

[rocktivity]

8. DING DING DING! MrModerate, you're our grand prize winner!

...Pence does have a shred of credibility...in that he's not Gingrich, Palin, Huckabee, Romney, or Jindal.

Well, duh--I think it's a safe bet that Pence won precisely because he's none of the above.

:headbang:
rocktivity

[Roland99]

2. Since when has Tony Perkins been anything other than a fucking piece of shit hypocrite?

Pence is just another fundie asshole that wants big government telling people what they can and cannot do and would be just fine and dandy teaching our children that the world was made in 6 days by some fairy godfather in the sky.


fuck them

[smuglysmiling]

3. So Tony Perkins...

has told the rest of us the type of candidate to avoid.....

[ladywnch]

4. I find two things of note here:

number one, St. Sarah doesn't get the value voters vote?!?!?!!!! That flat out amazes me. Aren't most of the teabaggers also part of this sect?

The second thing, who should really take this crowd seriously? Their choice last time around was Huckabee and he finished a poor 3rd in 2008 as I recall. So who cares who these folks 'anoint'?

[Alcibiades]

5. Pence would be Perfect!

The US has elected someone from the House only once, and it was Lincoln, and Lincoln he ain't. Madison, of course, doesn't count, because he had already held the position of Secretary of State, a higher-ranking, though unelected, position.

[Alexander]

7. Lincoln wasn't even a member of the House when he got elected.

He had been out of the House of Representatives for years by the time 1860 rolled around.

Edit: Really, the only sitting member of the House to get elected President was James Garfield (who was simultaneously elected to the Senate as well). And Garfield won by the barest of margins, winning the closest popular-vote victory in US history.

[UrbScotty]

6. A career politician, huh? (nt)