Mitt Romney, Rudy Giuliani Lead Poll of Conservative Political Action Conference

In a straw poll taken today, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney won a straw poll against other prominent Republican presidential hopefuls. The poll, taken of those attending the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington this weekend, shows twenty-one percent chose Romney. Second in the polling was former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, with seventeen percent.

In third place in the poll was Kansas Senator Sam Brownback. Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich was next, followed by Arizona Senator John McCain.

Perhaps the surprise of the poll is Gingrich, who has yet to declare a formal candidacy. In spite of this, he managed to earn 14 percent of the vote, only a percentage point behind Brownback. Gingrich did attend the event, and was greeted with a raucous cheer and chants of "Newt! Newt! Newt!"

The poll of gathered conservatives is unscientific, to say the least. Both Brownback and Romney had their campaign staffs in full battle mode, and Romney in particular was helped in the polling by the busloads of young Republicans he brought in from out of state.

No matter the results, many conservative Republicans are frustrated by the frontrunners for the 2008 election. "There's nobody that stands out in my mind," said a conference-goer from Michigan, Mike Sparling.

Robert Cruciger, a conservative activist from Ohio, agrees. "I don't like the fact that some of them aren't conservative on social issues, some are not conservative on economic issues," he said. "I think we need an all-around candidate who's conservative on both."

But this lack of solid conservative credentials at the top has led lesser-known candidates such as former Virginia Governor Jim Gilmore, Kansas Senator Sam Brownback, former Arizona Governor Mike Huckabee, among others, to try and position themselves as the true conservative in the race.