Mitt Romney Takes First Place in Iowa Straw Poll

A carnival atmosphere prevailed at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa on Saturday as Republican presidential candidates entertained, fed and asked Iowans to vote for them in the Iowa Straw Poll. Free transportation was provided by most of the candidates to anyone that wanted to make the trip to Ames to cast a vote. Throughout the summer Iowa has been alive with politicians, campaign workers and volunteers stumping the state campaigning for votes. The 2007 Iowa Straw Poll is one of the most important events for Republican presidential hopefuls.

National syndicated radio talk show host and author, Laura Ingraham, was Master of Ceremonies at the Iowa Straw Poll. Voting began at 10:00 a.m. CDT and continued to 6:00 p.m. CDT. Even though results were scheduled to be announced at 7:00 p.m. a glitch in the process prevented a timely announcement naming Governor Mitt Romney as the winner with 4,516 votes. Although the campaign workers and volunteers for Senator Sam Brownback and Congressman Tom Tancredo were sure their man would take second place, Governor Mike Huckabee came in second with 2,587 votes. Senator Brownback received 2,192 votes taking third place and Congressman Tom Tancredo with 1,961 votes finished in a close fourth place. Not to be discouraged the Brownback and Tancredo teams vowed to win the Iowa Caucus in January.

Congressman Ron Paul with 1,305 votes was fifth place and Governor Tommy Thompson took sixth place with 1,029 votes. In seventh place was Fred Thompson, an undeclared candidate, with 203 votes. Mayor Rudy Giuliani came in eighth place with 183 votes and Congressman Duncan Hunter received 174 votes for ninth place. In tenth place was Senator John McCain who received 101 votes while John Cox finished last with 41 votes.