GOP Spring Training
By Steve Chaggaris of the CBS News Washington bureau.
This weekend's Republican straw poll that had political junkies and reporters itching for an early indicator as to which potential 2008 GOP presidential candidates they should keep their eyes on, delivered some interesting results Saturday night in Memphis.
If the Southern Republican Leadership Conference poll's final tally actually means anything, then Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist is the frontrunner for his party's 2008 presidential nomination.
But ask most of the other likely candidates and they'll tell you that the poll was nothing more than a beauty contest that favored Tennessee favorite son Frist won.
What turned out to be shocking is who came in second and third as well as Arizona Sen. John McCain's dubious strategy to divert attention from himself by urging voters to write-in President Bush as a show of support for the embattled commander-in-chief.
Not surprisingly, Frist took first place with 37 percent. Coming in second with 14.4 percent was Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who has no southern base and some political observers think will have trouble courting evangelical conservatives because of his Mormon faith.
Tied for third with 10.3 percent were Virginia Sen. George Allen and McCain's suggested write-in campaign for President Bush. McCain, who is considered to be the front-runner of the undeclared candidates, received 4.6 percent of the vote.
While on the surface it looks like McCain took a big hit, his supporters are sure to point out that if you added up McCain's figure with the Bush write-in campaign he was behind and he would have edged Romney for second with 14.9 percent.
The Straw Poll Caper
Within the first half-hour of the opening session on Friday, McCain's operatives were eager to leak excerpts from their man's speech in which he'd call for a friendly disruption of the straw poll. Questions about McCain's motives were immediately raised as the chatter was whether he was attempting to head off a loss to Tennessee's Frist, who would be playing to his home state at the Memphis event.
Saying that Republicans "have bigger things to worry about," McCain implored, "If any friends here are thinking of voting for me, please don't. Just write in President Bush's name.
"For the next three years, with our country at war, he's our president and the only one who needs our support today."
He also repeated what seemed turned out to be the refrain of the weekend: Republicans need to worry about winning this November before they start looking at 2008.
"Our most immediate political priority isn't the '08 presidential race it's the '06 mid-term elections and we've got to do it and we've got to win," McCain said.
Almost like they were speaking from talking points, Sen. Trent Lott, Gov. Haley Barbour and RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman were among those who repeated virtually the same thing.
And so did potential candidate Allen, who truly means it. He's up for re-election this November.
Copyright 2009 CBS. All rights reserved. This weekend's Republican straw poll that had political junkies and reporters itching for an early indicator as to which potential 2008 GOP presidential candidates they should keep their eyes on, delivered some interesting results Saturday night in Memphis.
If the Southern Republican Leadership Conference poll's final tally actually means anything, then Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist is the frontrunner for his party's 2008 presidential nomination.
But ask most of the other likely candidates and they'll tell you that the poll was nothing more than a beauty contest that favored Tennessee favorite son Frist won.
What turned out to be shocking is who came in second and third as well as Arizona Sen. John McCain's dubious strategy to divert attention from himself by urging voters to write-in President Bush as a show of support for the embattled commander-in-chief.
Not surprisingly, Frist took first place with 37 percent. Coming in second with 14.4 percent was Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who has no southern base and some political observers think will have trouble courting evangelical conservatives because of his Mormon faith.
Tied for third with 10.3 percent were Virginia Sen. George Allen and McCain's suggested write-in campaign for President Bush. McCain, who is considered to be the front-runner of the undeclared candidates, received 4.6 percent of the vote.
While on the surface it looks like McCain took a big hit, his supporters are sure to point out that if you added up McCain's figure with the Bush write-in campaign he was behind and he would have edged Romney for second with 14.9 percent.
The Straw Poll Caper
Within the first half-hour of the opening session on Friday, McCain's operatives were eager to leak excerpts from their man's speech in which he'd call for a friendly disruption of the straw poll. Questions about McCain's motives were immediately raised as the chatter was whether he was attempting to head off a loss to Tennessee's Frist, who would be playing to his home state at the Memphis event.
Saying that Republicans "have bigger things to worry about," McCain implored, "If any friends here are thinking of voting for me, please don't. Just write in President Bush's name.
"For the next three years, with our country at war, he's our president and the only one who needs our support today."
He also repeated what seemed turned out to be the refrain of the weekend: Republicans need to worry about winning this November before they start looking at 2008.
"Our most immediate political priority isn't the '08 presidential race it's the '06 mid-term elections and we've got to do it and we've got to win," McCain said.
Almost like they were speaking from talking points, Sen. Trent Lott, Gov. Haley Barbour and RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman were among those who repeated virtually the same thing.
And so did potential candidate Allen, who truly means it. He's up for re-election this November.
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