Sen. Rand Paul convincingly wins CPAC presidential straw poll
(CNN) - Sen. Rand Paul easily won the presidential straw poll at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Saturday, giving the potential White House candidate an early boost with the Republican base ahead of the 2016 election.
It was the second-straight year the Kentucky lawmaker topped the poll at the annual gathering, notching 31% support.
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Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas was second with 11%, followed by conservative firebrand Ben Carson.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, never popular with many in the party's conservative base, was fourth with 8% support.
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, who for a time gave Mitt Romney a run for his money with conservative voters in the 2012 presidential race, rounded out the top six.
CPAC is the largest annual gathering of conservative leaders and activists and is a must-attend cattle call for GOP presidential hopefuls looking to pass the right-wing litmus test.
Polling indicates no real frontrunner among the potential GOP contenders so far. The next race for the White House officially doesn't get under way until after November's midterm election, and it's fair to say presidential surveys this early are often heavily influenced by name recognition.
Still, the straw poll was a strong sign for some and a troubling one for others.
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Florida, who finished second last year - just two points behind Paul at 23% - fell to a disappointing 6%. Texas Governor Rick Perry, who fired up the crowds Friday morning, received only three percent.
Though Cruz was a distant second, his 11% was up 4 points from his showing last year.
Sen. Paul said in a statement that he was grateful for the support, touching on his libertarian themes of individual rights and standing up for the Constitution.
"Thank you and onwards to victory," he said.
Paul, whose libertarian fight in the Senate is often met with a tepid response, spoke before an audience Friday that treated him like a rock star.
The son of former presidential candidate Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, the first-term senator is eager to expand his base and expand the GOP in general.
He's been aggressively trying to broaden the party by talking about the need to include not only libertarians, but even Democrats and minority voters that don't traditionally fall in the GOP column.
But he wasn't trying to hammer home that message on Friday. His remarks were mostly catered to firing up the conservative libertarian crowd.
Paul supporters could be seen at all corners of the conference this week, easily spotted by their "I Stand With Rand" stickers and signs.
With representatives from all 50 states, 2,459 people participated in the straw poll. As is usually the case, it was a very young voting group, with 46% of the voters between 18 and 25 years old, and overwhelmingly male, at 63%.
CNN's Steve Brusk, Conor Finnegan, Ashley Killough and Peter Hamby contributed to this report.
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Governor Oops failed to even win 5th runner up?
Now, I am sad.
He was the one that delivered the Tea Party response to President Barack Obama's State of the Union address on February 13, 2013 that was so bad ..... The next year they put some Indian/ Muslim looking clown shoe on?.
DREAM ON with this guy he is not TV ready never mind politically ready ?
God help the GOP if Rand Paul is the best they come up with by 2016. Rand Paul has only Tea Party nut cases supporting him. The last time I look the GOP has more members than just the Tea Party and the country has more voters than just Tea Party members. There is no chance Rand Paul will win a NATIONAL election. Lets get real GOP. The GOP needs a candidate that can win a NATIONAL election.
BFD, Mittens won it in 2007, 2008 & 2009. Ron Paul won in 2010 & 2011. Mittens again in 2012 & Rand Paul in 2013 and 2014. It been real barometer of success in the past hasn't it?
dumb as it gets
Hum....Humm....."I'm telling you. People come and go in this forest, and they say. 'It's only Eeyore, so it doesn't count.'
Ha ha ha ha haha ha ha ....is this the best that CPAC can come up with? Lord help us all....
A couple of suggestions for Rand Paul's POSSIBLE presidential run. 1) I am less nutty than the rest of them. 2) If I don't win you do. 3) I like Mrs Clinton. 4) I'll always have my job back in Kentucky. With the election a couple of years away, it looks like the R's are already to give this one away also.
Good job, Rand. Your teenage "Atlas-Shrugged"-style libertarian paradise-for-the-rich delusions of grandeur will be fully realized when you take on Hillary Clinton in 2016. It is there and then that you will be utterly destroyed, crushed and devastated. I'm looking forward to it.
Rand Paul and Ted Cruz finished 1 and 2 ... yikes. That tells me everything I need to know about CPAC.
This is the Grand Old Party's answer to 2016? Just give it to Hillary then.
Good job, Rand. Your teenage "Atlas-Shrugged"-style libertarian paradise-for-the-rich delusions of grandeur will be fully realized when you take on Hillary Clinton in 2016. It is there and then that you will be utterly destroyed, crushed and devastated. I'm looking forward to it.
Oh that's just perfect. Please carry on giving him your support conservatives, make it a certain victory for whomever the dems decide to run.
Palin II, the return
I am a democrat leaning independent who voted twice for Obama. If Rand Paul is in the race I'll be voting republican for the first time. More so if Clinton is the opponent.
The junior senator from KY is the one to run in 2016. It will guarantee Hillary a win.
Rand Paul is a wacko way right wing screwball.
Thank you, Republicans!
Signed,
The Democrats
Willard Romney won CPAC in 2012. And we all remember his his stunning success in the Presidential election later that year. In fact, CPAC has been the single WORST indicator of electoral success for the past decade. It has become nothing more that a place for the lunatic fringe of the Republican party can howl at the moon and convince themselves they are in any way relevant. Between the Teabaggers, the Birthers, and the gun fetishists, it's a pageant of everything unelectable in this country. The only rational statement made at that loon fest this year was made by Governor Christie, the guy that was treated as a leper last year. "You can't govern if you DON'T WIN." And yet CPAC continues to to worship the verbal diarrhea of Palin, Cruz, Perry, Bachmann, and Paul.
Its al water under the bridge now......New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, never popular with many in the party's conservative base, was fourth with 8% support.....the horse had a little too much oats before the race...
If and when the media confronts him about the Paul family's close ties to white supremacists, neo-Conderacists, and Holocaust revisionists, what then?
What to do when the public keeps voting for insanity.
And yet another winner from CPAC that is electable and can win the majority of the voters.
Great news....was afraid the GOP would come to their senses and name someone who at least makes sense, like Christie. But Rand Paul will never get one vote from sane thinking people, Left, Right or Middle....great to see the GOP will crash and burn again!! YAY TEAM!
So Rand Paul appeals to reetards, so what?