IOWA STRAW POLL - HOW IT WORKS
This is not any type of indictment concerning Mitt Romney and his recent victory in the Iowa Straw Poll. Rather a brief explanation of how the poll works in light of the huge media push that is claiming that the win by Romney is a testament to the GOP and the coming Presidential election
What follows in this explanation is legal and what has traditionally been practiced concerning the Iowa Straw Poll. The reason that Mitt Romney showed so well in the poll is that he used more money and distributed it in a way that gained the most votes.
First, just to cast a ballot in the poll a voter must pay a fee of $ 35.00 which allows participation. The voter in not told who to vote for when paying this fee, but allowed the privilege to vote. Romney understood this practice and chartered more than 100 buses to pick up supporters around the state and bring them to the festivities in Iowa.
He then payed their $ 35.00 fee so that everyone who he brought in on the chartered buses could vote. Of course he did not tell them who to vote for , but as one could imagine when they climbed on board the bus it was pretty much a foregone conclusion as to who they would vote for. Again Romney did nothing illegal in doing this he just had more money to put into the poll that others who participated.
This is why the Straw Poll is not taken very seriously by many politicians. Winning it makes for good publicity for the winner but because of the way the poll is run, as far as it being an indication of how the election or the primaries are shaping up, well just look at the national polls and even after the win Romney, while gaining a few points is still a distant third behind Thompson and Giuliani.
Ken Taylor
What follows in this explanation is legal and what has traditionally been practiced concerning the Iowa Straw Poll. The reason that Mitt Romney showed so well in the poll is that he used more money and distributed it in a way that gained the most votes.
First, just to cast a ballot in the poll a voter must pay a fee of $ 35.00 which allows participation. The voter in not told who to vote for when paying this fee, but allowed the privilege to vote. Romney understood this practice and chartered more than 100 buses to pick up supporters around the state and bring them to the festivities in Iowa.
He then payed their $ 35.00 fee so that everyone who he brought in on the chartered buses could vote. Of course he did not tell them who to vote for , but as one could imagine when they climbed on board the bus it was pretty much a foregone conclusion as to who they would vote for. Again Romney did nothing illegal in doing this he just had more money to put into the poll that others who participated.
This is why the Straw Poll is not taken very seriously by many politicians. Winning it makes for good publicity for the winner but because of the way the poll is run, as far as it being an indication of how the election or the primaries are shaping up, well just look at the national polls and even after the win Romney, while gaining a few points is still a distant third behind Thompson and Giuliani.
Ken Taylor
posted by The Liberal Lie The Conservative Truth | 11:52 AM
3 Comments:
I have been looking around your blog, great cartoons!!!
How important are these Iowa straw polls?
The real contest will be between Giuliani and Thompson when he announces in September. Until then this is all just academic anyway.
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