Reports of Mitt Romney’s political demise have been greatly exaggerated. For all of the talk that Romney’s star has faded, he was the strong favorite among the 3,408 conservative activists at this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference (“CPAC”). Romney won 38 % of the votes cast in CPAC’s annual straw poll, while Rick Santorum took 31%. Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul were a distant third and fourth with 15% and 12% respectively. Romney’s margin of victory was the largest of any straw poll in the past 12 years. (He also won the CPAC straw poll in 2007, 2008, and 2009.)
Mitt Romney also topped Santorum in a Washington Times national poll conducted in conjunction with CPAC, 27% to 25%. Gingrich came in third with 20%, while Paul was a distant fourth with a mere 8%.
Looks like Bearing Drift’s endorsement of Romney continues to be well placed.
