Religious right straw poll today after hearing from GOP field. Interesting.

[Hamlette]

Results from "Values Voter Summit" Straw Poll

Candidate Name ... Percentage
1. Mitt Romney ... 27.62 %
2. Mike Huckabee ... 27.10 %
3. Ron Paul ... 14.98%
4. Fred Thompson ... 9.77 %
5. Sam Brownback ... 5.14 %
6. Duncan Hunter ... 2.42 %
7. Tom Tancredo ... 2.30 %
8. Rudy Giuliani ... 1.85 %
9. John McCain ... 1.40 %

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/

(I know Ron Paul is a nut case, but I LOVE that he gets almost 10 times the votes Rudy does. I'm thinking they will run Huck.)

[TwilightGardener]

1. I think it'll be Romney. Knowing how evangelicals (who were the participants

of the summit) seem to hate Mormons, a Mormon victory over a Baptist is pretty surprising.

edit to add: It'll be Romney IF Rudy stumbles. Romney would be easier to beat, however.

[RiverStone]

11. Why would Mitt be easier to beat than Rudy?

I thought with Rudy, there is better chance of splitting the rethug vote due to his stand on Choice?

Not challenging the assumption, I'm just interested in your reasoning.

Thanks dog :hi:

[TwilightGardener]

14. I cast it in terms of likeability. Rudy is simply more likeable

than Mittens. If Mittens were genuine and charming, he'd be better able to overcome his flip-floppery, and with his one pretty wife and nice family, and no apparent skeletons (except for Seamus-Gate), he'd pull in the SoCons as well as the FisCons and beat Rudy to get the nom. The evangelicals WANT to accept him, despite his Mormonism--they've taken tentative steps to do so, because he does have money and a strong, well-oiled organization working for him. He could overcome all of his flaws pretty easily (they're not fatal) if he were simply a well-liked man--but he's not. And that's what would hurt him in the General.

[annabanana]

19. Rudy is more LIKEABLE?

Dear Lord.

[TwilightGardener]

24. Than Mittens? Oh, I think so. Hell, I used to like Rudy until I heard

he was going to run for Prez mostly on his 9/11 "heroism". Then I didn't so much care for him. But I'm an Italian-American from the Northeast, so I'm a little more predisposed to like him, I guess.

[annabanana]

34. Hell, I lived in NYC while he was Mayor and he was (and IS)

as nasty a piece of business as you can imagine. Arrested people for being homeless, fenced off City Hall Park so the public couldn't use it, outlawed street musicians and artists, oversaw the goonification of the police department ("Guliani Justice")

a real creep

[skipos]

33. Mitt would be easier to beat because

1. He is the most flip flopping candidate ever. Come on, the guy said he was to the left of Ted Kennedy! How do you think that will play out.
2. he won't win his homestate. It is a big deal when the people who know you best don't want you to be President.
3. His religion will cost him some votes. Not fair, imo but the way it is.
4. He is buying his way to the nomination. He leads the polls in states where he has dumped millions of his dollars (he is his own #1 campaign contributor) and doesn't do very well anywhere else. He has had very few individual donors compared to other Repub candidates

Personally, I don't think Repubs will bolt Dame Rudy if he is nominated. His foreign policy is even more violent and aggressive than Bush's, and he is talking about appointing anti-choice supreme court justices. It doesn't jive with his past actions, but the fundys will eat it up. Plus, Democrats are much more prone to Naderizing ourselves than Repubs.

[Raksha]

31. So-called "values voters" may hate Mormons,

but they hate anything even slightly tinged with LIBERALISM even more. One of the most interesting things about the Religious Right is how these longtime theological enemies (i.e. Catholics vs. Protestants, Mormons vs. everyone else) have been making alliance against their common enemy (liberals) in recent years. That's why we now have a Supreme Court stacked with Opus Dei Catholics and a Mormon ahead of a nonreligious pro-choice Republican (Giuliani) in the true believer polls.

[DURHAM D]

2. Well - that does it. Mitt will win the primary.

Huckabee should have won that straw poll with 80% of the vote - What a bunch of hypochristians.

I wish they would split from the Repubs. But, it looks like they have found their "Christian" candidate.

[Hamlette]

6. yeah, I don't get how fundamentalists can vote for a Mormon

non-fundamentalist evangelicals can, but fundamentalists? They believe the Bible is the last word of God and every word is true. The Mormons have a few books that come AFTER the New Test. and the prez of the mormon church talks to god. He can make up the rules as he goes.

I'm with you. to not support Huck 100% or near that number is insane. Is it because he's not mean enough? Intolerant enough? Doesn't hate poor people enough?

Striking statement about the values of the "values" voters are. (I am SO sick of them being called the values voters. I am a values voter. I vote my values. We need to change that pronto.

[TwilightGardener]

7. Huck not mean enough? He compares legal abortion to the Holocaust.

He thinks that marriage between two consenting adults of the same sex is one step away from marrying your own dog. I think he's awful. Romney's actually the more tolerant one, although he's trying to back away from that tolerance--but he's not nucking futs like Huckabee. Neither would make a good Preznit, and neither shall be, thank God.

[tekisui]

22. I would characterize Mormons as fundamentalists.

A lot of brainwashing, follow the leader crap. But, I know what mean, I am surprised mittens beat the huckster.

Send up mitt the mormon and any Dem can crush him.

[Hamlette]

39. mormons are NOT fundamentalists

being a fundamentalist is not brainwashing and following the leader. Otherwise all religions would be fundamentalist.

Fundamentalists believe in returning to "true", original meaning of the religion and its source books/works. The people who believe every word in the bible.

Fundamentalist mormons are polygamists.

[Inuca]

3. Romney?!?

Interesting. Scary. Actually they are all scary.

[Mojambo]

4. Does anybody else think that Huckabee is pretty much a lock for VP nom? n/t

[Blue_In_AK]

8. I wouldn't be surprised.

The kinder, gentler Christofascist. :)

[TwilightGardener]

9. Somehow, I don't think so. A VP needs to be a "safe" and non-controversial

pick, and Hucky sticks his foot in his mouth almost daily--and he's had very little scrutiny. It'll be Gov. Goodhair or Mark Sanford or Tim Pawlenty--all solid choices.

[AlinPA]

32. Yep. He knows all the bible verses, so he would be perfect.

[rodeodance]

5. Mcain at the bottom of the barrel.

[TwilightGardener]

10. Yep--they never got over that "agents of intolerance" thing--when

I heard him say that, I stood up and cheered. Where did THAT McCain go???

[TwilightZone]

12. I take it that Giuliani and McCain didn't attend?

The Ron Paul number is rather amusing.

[TwilightGardener]

15. No, they attended--evangelicals have never been their "crowd", though.

No surprise there. That's why they're not playing very hard for Iowa either. The big surprise is that Thompson is such a loser.

[TwilightZone]

16. Good points.

Evangelicals are being rather apathetic (and some, openly antagonistic) about Giuliani, and everyone seems to be rather apathetic about Thompson.

[NNN0LHI]

13. I hope they do run Huckabee

Just for the laughs.

Don

[DemocratSinceBirth]

20. We Think Alike

DSB

[Lucinda]

30. I don't

I think he's the most dangerous, in the long run.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

17. If I Could Choose My Rethuglican Opponent

Of those who have a realistic chance of getting the nomination

1) Huckleberry

2) The Fredster

3) Mittens

4) The Ghoul

5) McCain

[TwilightGardener]

25. If McCain somehow pulled it off and won the nom, we'd have a real battle

on our hands, I think--I agree with your rankings.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

26. It Doesn't Look Like He Will Get It

The fundys hate him ...Probably because he called them "agents of intolerance"...

People view him as a maverick but he's really a conventional Rethuglican except for his stance on campaign finance reform and gay marriage...

[TwilightGardener]

27. I will never understand it--he's probably more conservative than

Thompson, and DEFINITELY more conservative than Mittens or Rudy, and he's got the same immigration views as Fred and Huckabee--but they're determined to hate him, because he earned a reputation as a "backstabber" that no amount of pandering or appeasing the far right could ever shake. Weird to see lesser men vault over him in the polls, but no one ever said Republicans are smart.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

28. I Forgot Immigration

Actually he's pretty centrist on immigration...

But , yeah, you're right, it's perception...McCain doesn't come off as a "religious" man...

[Swamp Rat]

18. I look forward to Ron Paul peeling away 15% of the pukes when he runs as an Indy.

:bounce:

[Disturbed]

21. The so called "Christian" RWing are not Christians.

The are OT Zealots, Theocrats, Monarchists. They are the most dangerous group of people in Amerika.

[Swamp Rat]

23. Report to the nearest x-tian re-education center.

Obey!

[Lucinda]

29. That's a huge number for Huckabee

and it will grow. CNN has been hitting Mitt pretty hard the past couple days. I don't think he will hold the fundies.

[Dinah Steeler]

35. boy are the religious right going to be upset

when Rudy gets the nomination. Huckabee may be the preferred candidate for the religious right, but moderate Republicans won't vote for him in the primaries.

[CGowen]

36. Ron Paul got more money in one week than Huckabee in one quarter

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119146668063148662.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

By SUSAN DAVIS
October 4, 2007; Page A6

WASHINGTON -- Rep. Ron Paul disclosed more than $5 million in third-quarter fund raising for his insurgent Republican presidential bid, the only Republican in the field so far to report increased donations.

While the Texas lawmaker remains a second-tier candidate in a party field dominated by the likes of Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney, his grass-roots campaign continues to build steam, thanks to thousands of small donors over the Internet.

Campaign spokesman Jesse Benton estimates that as much as 80% of the campaign's donations are received online. In the final week of the third quarter, Dr. Paul, a licensed obstetrician, raised $1.2 million in Internet donations alone. The $5 million haul more than doubles his $2.4 million showing in the second quarter.

The funds will allow him to increase staff from 44 to 50 aides and to conduct his first major media buy heading into the crucial early primaries. The campaign has set a goal of $12 million for the fourth quarter.


....

By contrast, Mr. McCain is betting on success in Iraq. He has struggled financially and is expected to report numbers on par with Dr. Paul. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee also leads Dr. Paul in the polls, but raised an estimated $1 million in the third quarter.

[Catchawave]

37. I tell ya guys, I'm predicting a Romney/Huckabee GOP Ticket....

and that's on record here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x3626906

...and my prediction appears to be a thread killer :(

[B Calm]

38. Funny thing is, no democrats were on their poll.. Were they afraid

to add their names knowing that any of the democrats running had more morals than any of the republican candidates?