Is This How Straw Polls are won?

NEW ORLEANS -- I just wrote about "Evangelicals for Mitt," a group of evangelical supporters of Mitt Romney who are pressing people to support Romney at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference straw poll.

Afterward, I spoke to a young female delegate who said she planned to vote for Romney in the poll. I asked her how she had ended up at the conference.

She said "Evangelicals for Mitt" had contacted her and offered to pay for her to have a limited-access ticket -- so long as she agreed to vote for Romney in the straw poll.

Asked how "Evangelicals for Mitt" got her name, she said she didn't know. But she said that she was on the e-mail list for Romney, and speculated that the Romney team had given out their e-mail list.

"Evangelicals for Mitt" co-founder David French said in an interview yesterday that his group is not coordinating with the Romney team, though he noted that his wife had worked with the Romney campaign in the past.

UPDATE: Politico's Ben Smith reports that a conference organizer told him that "Evangelicals for Mitt" and Ron Paul's "Campaign for Liberty" bought blocks of tickets to the conference, which can then be given to supporters who cast ballots in the straw poll. Romney spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom denied to Smith the Romney e-mail list had been released to "Evangelicals for Mitt."

Meanwhile, a commenter at a Web site for Paul supporters posted what the commenter claims is an e-mail from "Evangelicals for Mitt" to Romney supporters offering free tickets to the event. They normally go for $119.

"I'm writing because the Southern Republican Leadership Conference is the kick-off of the 2012 Presidential election, in New Orleans in April," it says. "'Evangelicals for Mitt' is trying to get people there who would vote for Gov. Romney in a straw poll there."

"In addition to voting in the straw poll, we'll provide tickets that will enable you to get into all of the speakers if there's room," the e-mail continues. "Also, you'll have access to all of the break-out sessions, and a large Friday night party called The Taste of Louisiana. We'll also have free autographed copies of Gov. Romney's book 'No Apologies' and tee shirts there, and there will also be plenty of great food!"

More Coverage from the Southern Republican Leadership Conference:

Sarah Palin Fires Back at Obama, Mocks His "Experience" on Nuclear Issues
Jindal Jokes RNC Staffers Should Avoid Bourbon Street
"Evangelicals for Mitt" Step Into Romney Vacuum
Newt Gingrich: We Need a President, Not an Athlete
Liz Cheney: Obama Putting America on Path to Decline
All Hotsheet Coverage of the SRLC

[tiki33]

If everyone had to hear every speaker before voting, I wd bet they wdn't just vote the way their "invitation" told them to. Mike Pence knocked it out of the park, and the straw poll had started the day before. He's a truly Christian guy, and I wonder how many Mitt people (and others, too, who were undecided "spectators") wd've voted for Pence? He's the Dark Horse now ~ by the end of Summer, he'll be in roses!!!
PENCE MAKES SENSE ~ 2012 !!!

[gary4205]

The Ron Paul people always game straw polls, online votes, whatever.And yet, Ron Paul never wins when the votes are for real. His supporters can't figure it out. But you expect it. They are good for a laugh.

Romney is pathetic though. This guy doesn't have a snowball's chance in hell of winning. 70 percent of the country is ready to rebel over ObamaCare, and RomneyCare, which has destroyed Massachusetts' economy, as well as it's health care system, is the blue print, as well as the canary in the coal mine, for ObamaCare!

Even worse, instead of realizing he made a horrific mistake, and apologizing, he's doubled down and defends the damned thing! Moron.

American's can't accept a Big State progressive like Romney he's basically an Obama clone, which is what we can't wait to be rid of!

Now there's nothing wrong with doing a little campaigning for the poll, or even having handouts. "Evangelicals for Mitt" had a nice little piggy bank, Huckabee was down there advertising for his PAC, and the next President of the United States had these on had to remind people about her Political Action Committee that will elect dozens of real conservatives in November: http://beta.*******/4l3be

But actually paying voters to show up at a totally meaningless straw poll? Pathetic!

BTW, Bill Frist won the last SRLC poll, so.....

[AmyinOlympia]

Aparently that's how it's done. Just saw another news article that says, ...
"Ron Paul website was selling them (tickets) for $30. So, in theory, Paul paid $120 a piece for a good portion of his votes."

So there ya go.

[ganello2]

Zann - its not as hard as you think. See the supreme courts repealing of the ban for corporate spending limits

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/22/us/politics/22scotus.html

Add to that personal money expenditures (see Meg Whitman's plan to buy the ticket in California), and you can hire the best private political machine to outspend your opponents in every region in the country.

Welcome to the privatization of elections, and the downfall of democracy.

[McClarinJ]

Best of luck with that, evangelicals. One question though, "Why Romney?"

[Zann-Zel]

LOL!! If you have to stack the deck just to get your name in the running - then how in the world would you expect to win a general election?