Or, you might call it the grass-is-greener reaction, the boom among Republicans for the candidates they don’t (yet, at least) have.
Stefan Sharkansky at Sound Politics is reporting on the straw vote at the Washington Republicans’ statewide auction and dinner. He didn’t say how many votes were cast, but of them, former Tennessee Senator (now Law & Order actor) Fred Thompson got exactly half. The distant runners-up were Mitt Romney (16%), Rudy Giuliani (15%), Duncan Hunter (10%), John McCain (5%), Tom Tancredo (1%), Tommy Thompson (1%), Mike Huckabee (1%) and another non-candidate, Newt Gingrich, less than 1%.
Commenter Jeff B. reflects some of our thinking on this: “Fred represents the idealized candidate. And possibly one that is not attainable. Conservatives see things in all of the other candidates that they don’t like, and the project their dream for the perfect candidate onto Fred. I happen to like Fred as well, but the reality is that translating the charisma and hope into a well oiled candidacy and money machine is an important part of every presidential race. And that has yet to be demonstrated.”
Share on Facebook
