Young GOP straw poll results tallied*

HOLLYWOOD -- The straw poll results from the Young Republicans national convention are tallied, but according to some attendees, they come with a big asterisk.

Former Gov. Mitt Romney, who spoke moments before the balloting, won* with 46 percent followed by former U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson with 28 percent and then former mayor Rudy Giuliani with 10 percent. The other seven candidates took a combined 22 percent. A total of 366 votes were counted.

The asterisk was prompted by a number of Thompson fans who complained that some Romney supporters were voting even though they weren't Young Republican members.

It seems Thompson's folks lost sight of the fact that the straw poll is absolutely meaningless -- it's just for fun.

An interesting note: Guess who was in charge of supervising, qualifying voters and counting ballots? The Broward County Supervisor of Elections office.

--John Frank, Times staff writer

Comments

Thompson YR supporters-

Take note that previous straw votes taken by Yrers - Gallanger over Crist, Negron over McCullum, and Tom Lee...barely over Randy Johnson (and if JOhn would have let the non members vote in that one...randy would have won)

So...let the Romney people tout this victory, just remember they had to stuff ballots to beat a man who has not even announced he was running...that is what is the funny part

[UF Alumni]

surprise surprise.. (see post on Party Spirit still alive)

Romney won 46-28... and the Thompson people are complaining?!?! Someone explain to them that it was not a close vote.

Impressive for Romney... I would have thought the YR's would have been predesposed to lean Thompson.

11:57 - The other straw polls you site were from the Florida YR convention (with YR's from across Florida), this was the Nation YR convention with YR from all over the country. I understand your point, but just wanted to point out that it is not an exact comparison.

YRs are so nerdy. I always envision a group of gay paige types. Didn't these dweebs pick Gallagher to win. Will someone please get these hitler youths something constructive to do with their lives.

So that's what we'll get with Romney, cheating, lying and ballot box stuffing.

Thompson voters were complaining? Did I miss a formal announcement?

[Former YR]

Jon Woodard, the YR Executive Director, is Romney's chair for St John's County. He is on Romney's payroll. The vote was wired from the start. The YRs are an unremarkable group of misfits who could not get into any other "club". Their leadership is "for sale". The straw poll is meaningless. It is amazing that the Romney and Thompson folks could have been suckered into attending this event that was populated by extras from the Star Wars bar scene. The YRs need a change in leadership and tighter membership requirements before they even start approaching being a political force. Staggering around drunk on South Beach is about all they can muster. The sooner they dump their current leadership, the sooner they will begin restoring the integrity of their group.

[Atttendee]

11:23 pm I was at the convention. It was overwhelminingly Florida YRs 80%+. The national group has been adroitly hijacked by Florida. GO FLORIDA YRs!!!

Did anyone hear about any YRs getting arrested in South Beach last night?

No, did you?

Forget the percentages...what are the actual # of votes for each candidate?

907- use your own math skills. 366 votes were counted!

As for Jon, he may be the county chair for Romney, but I saw the back of his head at the beginning of the Thompson video proveded on this site...I bet he switches when Thompson jumped in...

and although I am a repub, I can't resist the funny crackback to 1247-

that is what we get from Romney, listen to some people and he is doing exactly what the president has done

The guy who got the votes is the guy who showed up and gave the keynote address. The YRs Exec Dir is on Romney's payroll. Any questions?

These kids are too emotional; they get caught up in the moment.

[NOT A BAD JOB]

Republican Party of Florida (PTY) 11/15/2006 2,000.00 GRAHAM, BRIAN 1712 NW 5TH AVENUE GAINESVILLE, FL 32603 CONTRACT LABOR MON
Lee, Tom (REP)(CFO) 11/18/2006 3,990.44 GRAHAM, BRIAN 1712 NW 5TH AVENUE GAINESVILLE, FL 32603 TRAVEL/PHONE/TICKETS MON
Republican Party of Florida (PTY) 12/06/2006 2,500.00 GRAHAM, BRIAN 1712 NW 5TH AVENUE GAINESVILLE, FL 32603 CONTRACT LABOR MON
Lee, Tom (REP)(CFO) 01/11/2007 1,036.96 GRAHAM, BRIAN 1712 NW 5TH AVENUE GAINESVILLE, FL 32603 TRAVEL/MEALS/EVENT T MON

[Politics and Business = $$$$]

Seems Woodard and Graham are more than YR colleagues!!

Florida Limited Liability Company
DIXIE STRATEGIES, LLC
Document Number L05000074874
State FL
Status ACTIVE
Effective Date 08/01/2005
Registered Agent Name & Address
WOODARD, JON G
Title MGRM
WOODARD, JON G
Title MGRM
GRAHAM, BRIAN H
Report Year Filed Date
2006 12/29/2006
2007 04/27/2007

[Chris]

I guess some losers dont have anything else to do but blog in their boxers about YRs.

Try getting a social life and/or become relevant and not an obscure annoymous blogger

[Blogger]

Must be a Dem no doubt. But how can officers of the YR - who should be Repub candidate independent - also take political money and support individual candidates? Seems the YR charter and rules need to be changed. Do the Young Democrats do the same?

[Dixie Wanabe]

How can I join Dixie Strategies. Sounds like easy money. You get paid for your position of influence.

[Chris]

The Young Dems are too busy planning protests and tree hugging to actually take part in our free market system often referred to as capitalism

[FED UP]

at least the young dems are not for sale like the young repubs......that makes the straw poll results worthless... bought and paid for courtesy of the young repubs leadership team..........romney may be able to buy nh, ia and the yrs, but not the florida primary. romney should issue a statement disavowing the results of the poll and putting his team on notice that he will not participate in any money for politics.

[Z]

Yes, as we all know all the Democratic candidates are all honest & clean with regard to campaign contributions, especially the Clintons. That is why all the Dems are so underfunded.

FED UP: GROW UP.

FED UP probably spent yesterday watching LIVE EARTH! He should realize that Republican candidates will buy any and all votes come hell or high water.

[Walnuts]

If true, the information about the YR is shocking. I thought they were young folks looking for a pathway to politics. Seems they found the path to money. I am really truly disappointed in this group and their apparently low standards for leadership.

[Help, I have Romnoids]

What goes around comes around. Since Romney doesn't stand a chance of winning the primary, our astute YR leaders will be hanging out on the sidelines during the general, unless they can get the RPOF to pay them like they did last year.

Straw Polls No Worth The Pull?

Romney wins the YR straw poll but continues in Florida to pull about 8 per cent in statewide public opinion polls by third-party polling people.

[Hemmoromnoid]

Is he up to 8%?

Young Republicans? I thought the literal translation was Hitler Youth.

[YD]

The typical YR -
-Failed to get a bid during fraternity/sorority rush
-No sports, including intramural
-mildly disabled or on anti-depressants
-lives in the burbs, probably rents
-drives a used car
-overweight
-pro-life (except if the GF gets pregnant)
-wonders why no one listens
-lives for republican party meetings
-blames lot in life on Dems
-fat GF (or fat Log Cabin BF)
-wears black socks and shoes with shorts on
-bathes infrequently
-BO and bad breathe with massive toe jam
-Cuts toenails once per 6 mos.
-Feeds like a Manatee grazing during receptions

2:57 No, that would be the YDs.

And just think, Hillary was once a YR.

I was there too, Gov Romney rocked the place and got 3 standing ovations for his policies, and another for his praise of President George Bush defending our country from terrorism.

Mitt is by far the most qualified, educationally and in leadership capabilities to be the next United States President.

I give the Fred-heads an A for their campaigning efforts, but this is about substance over form, and Mitt Romney won that hands down, just as he did the straw poll at the YR convention last night.

GOOOOOOO Willard!!!!!

Romney, one term,flip-flopping,ex-gov. of the socialist republic of Massachusetts.

[Dan]

Having been a past President of a County YR'S club here in Florida and attended numerous FFYR conventions in the past, the truth is this YR organization is pretty much irrelevant in everything.
They have big mouths but come election time, they're much more interested in checking out the latest Blackberrys than actually walking a precinct.

They're also much more conservative than the average Republican and tend to see every issue in terms of black and white. But no one's ever accused the 20 -30 yeah old age group of ever having a brain anyway.

If I were Romney, I would be worried they endorsed me since they haven't been on the side of the eventual winner in eons at least in Florida.

As far as a fixed election result for Romney, I wouldn't doubt it.
Like most organizations there is a small clique that holds the reins of power and they're more interested in pursuing the narrow agendas and selfish interests than actually encouraging the members to give their opinions and motivating them to get more involved.

It was like that 6 years ago in the FFYR org. and it's no different now.

I was actually quite relieved when my term as YR President was over since I could now actually start using my brain again in discussing issues.

Yep, Mitt. Enjoy your one electoral victory this cycle.

[Cant believe it]

Did RPOF Chairman Greer Actually get the Fla YRs to give money to the state RPOF ,if true Greer can move mountains and should be Chairman for life .They have never done one thing for the party , but I hear Greer got them to give .Unbelievable !

The elction was done by the Supervisor of Elections. The National Chairman and Florida Chairman are Thompson people.

Why aren't these little conservatives lining up for military service in Iraq?
Who cares what that self-serving group of trash thinks about anything? Their party is definitely on the skids, thanks to that imbecile in the White House and his vanguard of cretins.

repiglicans just call an agency and hire the job out...christ, man, do you honestly think those young creeps are any different from their parents?

FEC records show none of the people mentioned nor their business receiving any money from the Romney campaign.

Since when does a straw poll matter any way? If Thompson went last he probably would have won. This is really a non-issue.

Greer got the YR's to give him money because he probably promised them fake promises and they are the only ones that like him...

They have given him more awards and respect, for what?? A man that walks around like he is the (shadow) Governor!

I thought Al lost his job when he did that to Jeb...I guess times have changed or Crist does not realize what a liability Jim is!

The YR's have just hosted a huge national convention, gotten media from around the country, drawn national attention to the Florida GOP, snagged Thompson, Romney, Hunter and Gov. Crist and given money to the RPOF.. I have seen in the past few years a lot of great things the YR's have done. I dont get the criticism of this group.. I have not seen any other political organization in Florida accomplish all this, Republican or Democrat.. It seems as if the YR's are probably the strongest political organization in the state, other than the RPOF. Just my observation. I guess there are some envious people here.

I completely agree with the 1:00 AM post. These are not the YR's I remember from 5 or 6 years ago. They have their act together, and it seems some people are envious. I goes to show that it's not just Democrats that are sore losers.

All of this over a straw poll? A straw poll? Oh, come on! Straw polls are for fun. They are in no way scientific. I would not take serious anyone who is complaining about a straw poll, especially one ran by an outside entity.

The problem with this blog is it allows someone to hide behind anonymity. There is a person who ran unsuccessfully for Alachua County GOP State Committeeman and REC Chairman who blogs on here. He was defeated because one of the people he's on here complaining about supported his opponent both times. This is not about the YRs or a straw poll. It is about a person who holds a grudge. I would not be surprised if every negative post was from him. The YRs and their leaders are generally well received by everyone, but this is politics, and you will always have enemies (who will attack you on blogs)

It seems no matter which party you are in you will find kooks who try to find a way to blame someone or some thing for their candidate losing.

[UF Alumni]

2:19 track the blog posts vs IP address, you'll find not a single negative post was from me. Don't pull me into this fight.

[UF Alumni]

2:19 why do you post anonymously?