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If former Sen. Fred Thompson (R-Tenn.) was supposed to be the savior of socially conservative voters, somebody apparently forgot to tell them. Thompson was only able to get a fourth place showing in the Values Voters Summit straw poll. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) won the poll, with former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R) nipping at his heels. Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) came in third. With more than 5,500 votes cast both at the conference and online, Thompson was only able to secure 567. Romney won 1,595 votes and Huckabee got 1,565. “Undecided” came in fifth place, and Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.), who withdrew from the race after addressing the crowd Friday, came in sixth. But Huckabee was undeniably the big winner of those who spoke. Of the social conservatives who voted onsite, having listened to the candidates, Huckabee overwhelmed the competition, winning more than 51 percent of the vote. He had 488 votes to Romney’s 99. Thompson won 77 votes of those who voted onsite, and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) won 60. Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo) came between them with 65 votes. Perhaps most surprising, Democratic candidates Sens. Barack Obama (Ill.), Joseph Biden (Del.) and Chris Dodd (Conn.) and Rep. Dennis Kucinich (Ohio) all won onsite votes. Obama won out in that crowd with five votes. Kucinich and Dodd both got two, and Biden received one. |
