Mitt Romney Wins Iowa Straw Poll

With attendance of 33,000 and votes cast by more than 14,000, Republican party officials called the 2007 Iowa Straw Poll a resounding success. No one was more pleased than Governor Mitt Romney who received 4,516 votes to win the Straw Poll.

In second place Governor Mike Huckabee earned 2,587 votes and was followed by Senator Sam Brownback who received 2,192 ballots cast in his favor. In a close fourth, U.S. Representative Tom Tancredo received 1,961 votes. In fifth place was U.S. Representative Ron Paul with 1,305. Governor Tommy Thompson finished in sixth place with 1,029 votes and was followed by seventh place finisher, and undeclared candidate, Fred Thompson who had 203 votes cast for him. Mayor Rudy Giuliani received 183 votes for eighth place followed by U.S. Representative Duncan Hunter in ninth place with 174 votes. Senator John McCain, in 10^th position, got 101 votes. And finishing last with 41 votes was John Cox.

"Reports of the demise of the Iowa Straw Poll were premature and proven false today," stated Ray Hoffmann, chairman of the Republican Party of Iowa. "Activists turned out in great numbers to support their candidates despite a heat index exceeding 100 degrees. The atmosphere here rivaled that of the State Fair."

New voting procedures were in place at the Iowa Straw Poll which required presentation and validation of a photo ID along with a ticket. "Iowans proudly stepped up to meet our voting requirements," Chuck Laudner, executive director of the Republican Party of Iowa, remarked. "To see more than 14,000 purple thumbs on this campus was thrilling."

With theses new voting procedures in place, party officials were confident all votes were cast by Iowans only. "Tickets were punched then scanned along with photo IDs," Laudner explained. "Our process guaranteed the one person, one vote ideal was upheld. We believe photo identification should be required before any vote is cast in Iowa elections and today we proved the process was not only possible, it was effective and efficient."

The Iowa Straw Poll continues a decades' long tradition of testing candidates' organizational strength, bringing likely caucus-goers together, and winnowing the field. In the 1999 caucus, 89,000 participated. Today's Straw Poll vote tally represents more than 15 percent of that total, the most representative sample of likely voters' opinions, Laudner concluded.

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4516 Mitt Romney

2587 Mike Huckabee

2192 Sam Brownback

1961  Tom Tancredo

1305  Ron Paul

1039  Tommy Thompson

203  Fred Thompson

183 Rudy Giuliani

174 Duncan Hunter

101 John McCain

41 John Cox

Total  14302

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 453 Credentialed Media

176 Media Outlets Represented

38 International Journalists

28 International Outlets Represented

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