Hunter wins Texas GOP Presidential straw poll

Congressman Duncan Hunter with Bexar County Republican activist Schuylar Crist & mother (photo)

Harvey Kronberg's Quorum Report article (Sep 1st)

Fort Worth -- At today's straw poll, 534 Republican voters handed California Congressman Duncan Hunter a win with 41.1% of the votes. Despite missing the event, Fred Thompson pulled 266 votes or 20.5%. Despite having the most visible organization at the event, Texas Congressman Ron Paul came in third with 217 votes, or 16.7%.

Several of the frontrunners did not fare so well among the 1300 or so straw poll voters . Giuliani got 78 votes and Romney only 61 putting them at fifth and sixth place respectively. Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckaby came in fourth with 83 votes. John McCain scored only eight votes. Brownback and Tancredo followed regional candidates with only six votes each.

The storyline coming into this weekend, though, was the prominent list of no shows. None of the front runners or even the second tier presidential candidates bothered to show up. The stampede out of Fort Worth was perhaps best epitomized by the decision this week by Mike Huckabee to pull out, discovering a scheduling conflict days before the straw poll. Even Gov. Rick Perry didn’t make it, sending a videotaped message to the delegates.

The two national candidates who chose to come to Fort Worth spoke to a group of delegates that comfortably fit into a ballroom at the convention center. Republican Party of Texas spokesman Hans Klingler estimated that 2,000 voting delegates attended the event with another 1,000 guests in attendance. That was well short of the more than 10,000 in attendance that Party organizers had originally hoped for. Still, the leaders on hand put their best spin on the turnout. Rep. Vicki Truitt (Southlake) noted that the Iowa straw poll drew less participation in its first year.

Native son Paul had by far the most prominent visual presence at the convention center. He had more volunteers, more signs and had the best attended reception of the event. His Friday night reception filled a ballroom at a nearby hotel room and his calls to return to the gold standards and to pull out of the United Nations drew a raucous response from his most enthusiastic backers.

Rep. Duncan Hunter of California also circulated among the delegates, confident that his stance on building border fences would ensure success today. He told reporters that he won the Arizona straw poll with no presence at the event because of the immigration issue. He also promised a hard line on trade with China.