Romney Barely Wins Straw Poll

Romney – Paul in Dead Heat

Most of the headlines are proclaiming Romney the winner and buried somewhere in the story we discover that Romney beat Ron Paul by only 1 vote in this early beauty contest for the 2012 Republican nomination.

Here's how they voted:

Mitt Romney: 439 votes
Ron Paul: 438 votes
Sarah Palin: 330 votes
Newt Gingrich: 321 votes

Many people, Sean Hannity  for example, keep saying that there is no need for a third party, but instead a revitalized Republican party. But, when given the chance to vote for that revitalized, truly conservative party, Republicans revert to form and vote for a progressive candidate. I realize that if one totals all of the votes for other candidates they far outnumber Romney, but that's not how elections work and that's not how primary contest winners are chosen. In fact, that's why we ended up with John McCain in the last Republican primary. If this is the way it's going to go between now and 2012, then I don't see a revitalized Republican party anywhere on the horizon.