September 19, 2010
Indiana Rep. Mike Pence was the top choice for a 2012 presidential candidate among conservative activists who attended this weekend's Values Voter Summit in Washington, edging a field of more well-known Republican figures in an early test of grass-roots support.
Pence, chairman of the House Republican Conference, received 24% of the vote, edging the winner of the 2009 straw poll, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who received 22%. Each addressed the gathering on Friday, as did third-place finisher Mitt Romney, who won 13% of the vote.
Get breaking news alerts delivered to your mobile phone. Text BREAKING to 52669. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who spoke Saturday, received 10%. Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who did not attend, finished a distant fifth, with just 7%.
Of the nearly 2,000 people who registered for the conference, 723 voted in the straw poll. Family Research Council President Tony Perkins, whose group organized the event, said the results are "descriptive of the type of candidate value voters would be looking for."
Straw polls such as this one are hardly reliable predictors of a potential candidate's viability as a presidential hopeful. Other Republicans seen as potential candidates lagged in the field; Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who did not attend, asked that his name be removed from the ballot.
Palin did not attend, choosing instead to deliver the keynote speech Friday at the Iowa Republican Party's Reagan Dinner.
mike.memoli@latimes.com
Copyright © 2010, Los Angeles Times
Who the heck are either Mike Pence or Mitch Daniels? They are nobody's that's who...
Palin is the best thing for the Republican Party to get the career politicians out of the Party and begin to reflect mainstream America. Without Palin, the Republicans will find a way to lose the next election... as it is now being nearly handed to them...
We have a Marxist and Socialist as President and we're attempting to replace him with nobody's? Time to get real.
The American people want Mitch Daniels, not Pence another Washington insider... Get some informed pollsters for once you idiot GOP morons. We don't want Palin either.
Daniels/Santorum 2012!!!
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