He finished third in the Republican presidential primary but former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts was the No. 1 choice of the Conservative Political Action Conference’s (CPAC) straw poll for a third consecutive year, with 20 percent of the total vote.
Marked as the GOP’s best chance at the White House in 2012, Romney’s closest competitor was Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana who finished second, with 14 percent. Not too far behind Jindal were Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska, the former GOP vice presidential candidate, and Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, who each netted 13 percent of the votes from 1,757 participants at the annual Washington D.C. conference.
Ballots were distributed from Thursday to Friday, and reflected the tastes of an upcoming generation of conservative activists as nearly 60 percent of the straw poll’s participants were between the ages of 18 and 25, reported CNN.com. College students easily made up more than half of those in attendance at CPAC this year.
Conservative radio commentator Rush Limbaugh announced the results Saturday, before the conference ended with his keynote address. In it, he urged attendants to own the “conservative” label and to not let themselves be defined by others.
“We love people. When we look out over the United States of America, when we're anywhere, when we see a group of people such as this or anywhere, we see Americans,” Limbaugh said for CNN reporters.
To his credit, Limbaugh lauded President Obama’s oratory skills, but added, “It just breaks my heart that he does not use these extraordinary talents and gifts to motivate and inspire the American people to be the best they can be. He's doing just the opposite.”
Not to be left out, Democrats returned fire in the form of a television ad, Friday, which lambasted Republicans for Limbaugh’s coronation as their de facto leader.
The ad asks, “Who are Republicans listening to?” then cuts out after 30 seconds to footage of Limbaugh saying, “I want him [Obama] to fail.”
Americans United for Change and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) union, both Obama supporters, financed the ad.
Really? People honestly still rank Palin as a legitimate contender? That woman is a joke, and to elect her would turn us into a laughing stock of the world.
It says a lot about the sorry state of the GOP these days. I don't foresee any of those candidates bring enough meaningful change to the party to reasonably stand up to Obama and the Democrats yet.
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