Ron Paul Wins Maryland Straw Poll -- and Major Media Covered it

Posted by The Crux | Today's Washington Post reported that presidential candidate Ron Paul won a straw poll at the Maryland State Fair's Republican booth.  The roughly 1,000 votes broke down like this:

Paul                                       263
Giuliani                                   220
Thompson                              188
Other candidates      less than 100

It's no surprise that Paul won. The surprising part is that a major newspaper covered it.  Last week, Paul won Fox's viewer poll after the GOP debate....

Paul             33%
Huckabee    18%
Giuliani         15%
McCain        14%

Last month, BN-Politics' Woman of Mass Discussion reported that Paul had also won polls conducted by ABC, MSNBC, and CNN. Oddly, those networks made very little noise about Paul's then-unexpected (i.e., newsworthy) victories.

Sean Hannity seemed displeased with Fox's poll results, saying that Paul "had all those 3 percent of people call in, I'm sure." (Fox) With my mind-reading skills refusing to come home until hurricane season ends, I don't know what happened.

If Paul's supporters are so few, why haven't the other candidates' troops found a way to beat Paul in these informal polls?  Dialing their phones might work.

Perhaps Paul keeps winning because people like what he says. He does speak with a candor that has been conspicuously absent from our nation's political debate for the last six years. For example, Fox's debate moderator asked Paul this question, in the spirit of neutrality we've grown to expect from Fox:

"Your position on the war is pretty simple: get out. What about the bloodbath that would certainly occur if we get out in a hurry...?"

Paul's answer:

"The people who say there will be a bloodbath are the ones who said it would be a cake walk, it would be a slam dunk. And it would be paid for by oil. Why believe them?  They've been wrong about everything they've said...."

When asked about Fred Thompson, Paul said he welcomes him to the race, because Thompson will dilute the Republican vote in Paul's favor. John McCain should consider seeking Paul's advice on effective straight-talk.

Maybe Paul keeps winning these polls because people find his frankness refreshing -- except, of course, those who share the stage with him. I certainly did, even though I don't agree with Paul on every issue.

If you can spare 9 minutes, check out the YouTube video below: