I was just a bit surprised when I first heard that Ron Paul had won the straw poll at this year’s Values Voters conference, sponsored by the Family Research Council. After all, Paul would seem to be more than a bit too libertarian for most social conservatives.
But all became clear when I read these two articles, which should have been headlined “Paul Pols Packed Poll.”
Such small-scale victories are the only kinds the Paul campaign can win, but this sort of result ought to render dubious the whole enterprise of straw polling, if it hasn’t already done so.
Of course, as long as the press keeps looking for this sort of news, conference organizers will be tempted to give it to them. What’s more, I’m sure that straw polls (covered as news) jack up attendance and hence revenues for the conference organizers.
I hate saying this, but I can’t wait for the real primaries and real results.
October 10th, 2011 | 8:45 am
“How dare those pesky Paul kids out organize every other campaign! Get off my lawn!”
Tony Perkins sound a wee bit vindictive.
You could not just attend Paul’s speech, you had to register for the conference. There were electronic voting machines, not ballot boxes and you had to be registered to cast a ballot. Hat’s off to the Value Voters Summit for not stealing it, when they could have.
Ron Paul is a Christian, and he spoke a lot about issues that appeal to Christians and Christian conservatives. If the Value Voters Summit is as wise as I think they are, they might try to continue to accommodate the young people, energy and enthusiasm that Paul’s faction brought to the conference. His supporters filled two large rooms, standing room only: old people, young people, families, college students, black people and white people. I had never been to a Paul event before; I was quite surprised to see such a large and diverse group. All the reports I heard in the media are that he only attracts college students.
The rest of the Republican candidates are all for one form or another of big government, pro-bail-outs, and pro-endless war. Please explain how that will be any different than Obama in November?
America wants real change, and that’s why people came to see and hear Paul at the Summit.
October 10th, 2011 | 8:54 am
In the 2008 campaign there was an on-line poll, and my own State of Texas was said to have favored Ron Paul over all others. I thought, well, he is the only son of Texas in the race, and that may be why. So I checked to see if he got a majority in any other state, and lo–he won every state of the lower 48!
One thing the Paulsters and their captain know how do–in certain circumstances stack things to give the (false) impression the guy is both serious as a candidate and sane as a person.
October 10th, 2011 | 11:36 am
Anyone who paid attention in 2008 knows that Paul in fact does attract a significant number of social conservatives. That’s not really surprising given that he’s pretty compelling when he talks about pro-life issues (which he should be, given his career as an OB), and that for example he’s been to the March for Life, which even a lot of nominally pro-life politicians avoid for some reason. On concrete national government policy issues, I’m not sure why anyone would think Paul wouldn’t appeal to social conservatives–the people who really can’t stand him, while they may be socially conservative as well, are usually hostile to Ron Paul based on Paul’s opposition to our current hawkish foreign policy, or the admittedly strong medicine he proposes in terms of fiscal/monetary policy.
October 10th, 2011 | 12:04 pm
[...] fishy to matter: One would think Paul “a bit too libertarian for social conservatives,” says Joseph Knippenberg at First Things. But Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council explained everything when he pointed out that the [...]
October 10th, 2011 | 10:33 pm
I’ll leave it to others to argue the merits of Ron Paul’s policies but I will say this: The straw poll result represents the people bussed in just that morning for it & does not represent, as it was intended to, the preference of the Value Voter segment of the GOP. This is the fourth year I’ve attended VVS & I can tell you that this is not a crowd that thinks the Bush Administration overreacted to 9/11. If anything, they think Bush was too wimpy toward militant Islam. The real winner was Herman Cain, with Santorum as runner up.
October 10th, 2011 | 11:46 pm
I’m not yet a Paul supporter, but I have to admit his message is compelling and his delivery is sincere. I don’t see that level of caring from any of the other candidates. Maybe the GOP leadership will put someone else in there that can make us feel as good as Dr. Paul.
October 11th, 2011 | 10:15 am
The Paul supporters rigged the straw poll. Is that one of their Vaules?
October 11th, 2011 | 1:34 pm
Those that think only Ron Paul would be a contribution to this nation, must have missed the things said by Newt Gingrich.
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