Former U.S. Senator Fred Thompson and former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich are the favored candidates for President among one of the most conservative and influential Republican groups in Southwest Missouri.
A recent straw poll of Missouri Republican Assembly (MRA) members found that a majority of members aren't satisfied with the current crop of Republicans running for the 2008 nomination, and would rather vote for Thompson or Gingrich.
A presidential preference poll of about 80 members of the MRA was recently taken by 27-year-old college journalism student Ryan Cooper. Cooper did the poll for a class project and was kind enough to share the specific results with the KY3 Political Notebook.
Number of votes for "Announced Candidates":
Mike Huckabee 15 votes
Mitt Romney 4 votes
Rudy Giuliani 2 votes
John McCain 2 votes
Tom Tancredo 2 votes
Duncan Hunter 2 votes
Sam Brownback 1 vote
The others - a stunning majority - did not vote for any of the announced candidates. When Cooper included 2 "unannounced" candidates in his poll, the results changed dramatically.
"When I included Newt and Thompson in the poll, all the hands in the room went up. I counted about 80 people in all. Newt or Thompson is their first choice," said Cooper, who supports Romney.
The MRA proudly fashions itself as "The Republican Wing of the Republican Party," according to its national website.
One of the MRA's members, Larry Russell, confirmed the results of the straw poll. "Fred's the man," Russell said. "He's just a Reaganite. And we need to get back to Reagan."
Russell said the Ozarks MRA has about 150 members in all and that the group is growing in numbers and clout.
Cooper said he was stunned by the results. "The idea behind it, is that these people are highly engaged, highly involved in the issues, and they are looking for another candidate," Cooper said. "There are some conservatives who like Romney, but he's not clear cut. A lot of that has to do with his previous statements on the issues important to this group. But it's clear they'd rather go with Newt or Fred Thompson," he added.
Cooper also noted some ominous news for former frontrunner John McCain.
"He actually got booed when I said his name," Cooper said. "Conservatives hate John McCain."
1 comment:
As a conservative I agree with all of this. Gingrich and Thompson are much more appealing to me than those who are considered to be the top 3 and I have an immensely strong dislike for John McCain.
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