Romney for President?

DallasBlog.com | Tara Ross:

“Is it ever too early to conduct an informal straw poll of 2008 presidential hopefuls? Probably not, which is why the Southern Republican Leadership Conference did precisely that on Saturday night in Tennessee. Not surprisingly, the hometown favorite, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, took a strong lead over more than a dozen other candidates. He finished with 36.9 percent of the vote. But a hefty 82 percent of these votes came from Frist’s fellow Tennesseans. Frist’s win was predictable and not particularly meaningful. The more surprising outcome is the identity of the second-place candidate. Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney earned 14.4 percent of the votes to land squarely in second place. ”

Ed Cognoski responds:

The Romney boomlet in the Bible Belt is not so surprising when you look behind the scenes. According to an AP report, pro-Romney organizers arranged for hundreds of Romney supporters to be in Memphis, with many getting expenses paid to be there. Organizer Nancy French first denied paying supporters, then admitted it when the supporters themselves said they were paid. Going into the straw poll, Gov Romney had said he was not interested in the straw poll. Uh huh. Afterwards, he probably doesn't mind at all that admirers like Ms Ross are using his "surprising" straw poll finish as a pretext to write a complimentary piece about him and present it as news.