The New Hampshire Republican Party elected a Tea Party leader as the head of their state party, signaling a take-over by the anti-government crowd. Jack Kemball defeated the more main stream Republican candidate, who was backed by out-going John H. Sununu, former chief of staff for Bush 41.
Even though the insurgent activists, many of them new members of the party, had the votes to choose the party leader, they chose more main stream presidential candidates in a straw poll, in this order:
Mitt Romney 33%.
Ron Paul 11%
Tim Pawlenty 8%
Sarah Palin 7%
Michele Bachmann 5%
Jim DeMint 5%
One way to read this is that they want the fervor and the ideals of the Tea Party, but they also want to win the White House -- so ultimately they will choose the most electable. And Romney has always had a following in this neighboring state.
Of course, it's only a very early straw poll, so it probably has no real significance. And other state voters are more likely to by swayed by their emotions than these practical New Englanders.
Ralph
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Tea Party Math? 33 + 11 + 8 + 7 + 5 + 5 = 100
ReplyDeleteJust kidding. There were others and I was excited to see Newt coming in with 3%. He's probably going to see it as a mandate...
Well, it will make for colorful debates. Imagine the line-up:
ReplyDeleteRomney (dull), Huckabee (affable and witty), Paul (cantankerous), Pawlenty (boring, trying to be interesting) -- and then the clowns: Palin, Gingrich, and Bachmann.