The Hot Story: Romney ’steals’ the Pinellas straw poll
December 3, 2007 at 12:26 pm by Wayne GarciaThis morning’s THS comes from the Times, where Ron Paul’s supporters insist that the very fabric of Democracy is at stake in a dispute over voting a the Pinellas GOP straw poll before last week’s presidential debate. The Paulies turned out in more force but Mitt Romney won the vote the old-fashioned way: he paid for it. More accurately, Romney’s few supporters cast multiple votes, which was allowed under the buy-a-$20-ticket-for-each-vote format. (Sort of the way Romney “bought” the Iowa straw poll earlier this year by spending millions of dollars to “win” a pay-per-vote event that nobody even remembers today. Having lots of money goes a long way in politics.)
The Times‘ headline certainly tipped its hand on how it feels about the dispute, calling it “a snit.” But videos of the Romneyites voting again and again hit YouTube quickly and are causing a bit of stir, at least in the Paul camp. A Palm Harbor Paulie sent me his:
So today’s THS question is this: Do straw polls matter at all? Is this a travesty of politics and corruption? Or is it all just another example of politico-media masturbation?
