Huckabee wins? Romney wins? You decide
Posted October 20, 2007
The Family Research Council had a candidates forum and straw poll this weekend and Mitt Romney won. Or maybe Mike Huckabee. Here comes the spin...
Among the activists who bothered to listen to the speeches and cast votes in the convention hall, Huckabee absolutely cleaned Romney's clock -- 488 to 99. But FRC big wigs, who have criticized Huckabee and praised Romney in recent days, also allowed people who were not in attendance to cast votes via computer. Those voters backed Romney.
Bottom line -- the social conservatives who heard both candidates and then voted apparently voted overwhelmingly for Huckabee -- by nearly 5 to 1. But when the cyber votes are added in, the final vote was:
Mitt Romney 1095
Mike Huckabee 1065
http://www.frcaction.org/
Click here for straw poll results.
It's worth reiterating that the leader of the FRC Tony Perkins and the former leader of the FRC Gary Bauer publicly attacked Huckabee and praised Romney about 10 days ago in the Washington Times.
Something seems very strange about these results, and the vote raises more questions than answers, in my mind.
It sounds like the rules for on-line voting were known by all the candidates ahead of time and that Mr. Romney simply did a better job of getting his people to vote on-line. If that's the case, then any grumbling about the results is sour grapes. [Surely, Mr. Huckabee could've convinced one Southern Baptist in each state to sign up and vote for him in the poll. If he'd done so, he'd be the clear cut victor tonight...]
As I was preparing to post this item, I came across a blog item by Michael Luo, the great New York Times reporter who was in attendance at the event. "Ater the votes were tallied, there was a palpable tension felt walking around the Hilton Hotel, where the event was held. Delegates were overheard on their cell phones complaining about the results to friends. An attendee even interrupted the news conference afterward to voice her displeasure at the online portion of the voting," he writes. Apparently, any member of FRC Action (as simple as making a $1 donation) was allowed to vote.
"Based on the smattering of applause that Mr. Romney got when his name was announced as the top vote getter, with 1,595 votes or 27.6 percent, it is safe to say that many in the hall were surprised that he won, surpassing Mr. Huckabee by 30 votes," he adds.
So will the press focus on the 1095 to 1065 number? Or the 488 to 99 number? My guess is that many will present it as a split decision.