At the Gwinnett County Republican Convention:
But the most interesting news came from the Presidential straw poll, which had been tacked on to the end of the officer ballot, almost as an afterthought. The delegates were given a choice of a dozen or so candidates. None of the Presidential campaigns were represented at the convention.
The national frontrunner, Rudy Giuliani, placed third, right behind Georgia’s own Newt Gingrich, who finished second. But the winner was former U.S. Senator Fred Thompson of Tennessee, who received more votes than all the other candidates combined.
Fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh place went to Romney, McCain, Huckabee and Brownback, in that order.
(via)
I think we are seeing the erosion of support for the leading candidates and the beginning of a ground swell for the closest we are going to get to an electable, conservative candidate. At least I hope that’s the case.
BTW, he ties Clinton but gets beat by Obama in the current Rasmussen poll:
According to the first Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey involving Thompson, the actor-turned-politician-turned-actor is neck-and-neck with Clinton, leading her by a margin of 44 percent to 43 percent.
[…]
In the poll, Obama leads Thompson 49 percent to 37 percent.
Since Clinton’s negatives are so high, I’m not surprised by this result.