Romney 39
Paul 36
Santorum 18
Gingrich 6

另外一个好消息是罗姆尼还赢下了CPAC的straw poll，显然击败奥教主仍然是许多保守派的头号目标。只要罗姆尼确实获得共和党提名，共和党右翼也不得不含泪含血含恨投上一票

Romney wins straw poll of conservative activists at CPAC, Santorum take second
By Josh Lederman - 02/11/12 04:49 PM ET

Mitt Romney took first place in a straw poll of conservative activists conducted at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), besting rival Rick Santorum by 7 points.

Romney took 38 percent of the 3,408 participants in the straw poll, conducted by the Washington Times and CPAC over three days. Santorum came in second with 31 percent, followed by Newt Gingrich with 15 percent and Ron Paul with 12 percent.

The vote of confidence from the gathering of die-hard conservative activists is a major boost to Romney as he works to convince voters he is a bona fide conservative. Romney's win comes less than a week after Santorum defeated him in primary contests in Minnesota, Missouri and Colorado.

Santorum and Romney had the most visible support throughout the conference, with activists displaying their signs and stickers as they mingled in the halls. Both of their addresses to the conference had activists in lines snaking back and forth through the hotel attempting to get in, but many fewer showed up to hear Gingrich.

Paul's last-place finish held the most striking contrast from previous years. The Texas congressman won the CPAC straw poll in both of the past two years. But he did not speak at the conference in 2012 and had almost no presence on the ground. The crowd at one session even applauded Democratic strategist Paul Begala when he said that Paul had authored racist newsletters.

Romney, who typically does not perform well in straw polls and has dismissed their veracity in the past, wrote on Twitter that he was honored to have won the CPAC poll.

"I’m heartened that so many friends here agree with me about the need for conservative change," he said.

But 44 percent of those who voted were students, a figure reflective of the largely college-age population that attended the conference. The overrepresentation of students in the sample compared to the voting population as a whole was a cause for caution against reading too much into the poll.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) topped the list of who straw-poll voters said they would like to see as vice president, followed by Gov. Chris Christie (R-N.J.) and Gov. Bob McDonnell (R-Va.).

American Conservative Union Chairman Al Cardenas, whose group puts on CPAC every year, told reporters that the poll was conducted electronically, with activists voting on laptops or smartphones via a secure online portal.

In conjunction with the straw poll at CPAC, the ACU released the results of a national telephone survey of 600 self-identified conservative voters. Romney won that poll by a smaller margin, beating Santorum by just two points. Gingrich came in third in that poll with 20 percent and Paul again placed last with 8 percent.

Maine GOP chairman says Mitt Romney wins caucuses
By Eric Russell, BDN Staff
Posted Feb. 11, 2012, at 6:49 p.m.

PORTLAND, Maine — Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney narrowly edged Texas Congressman Ron Paul in Maine’s nonbinding GOP presidential preference poll on Saturday, ending a string of defeats for the Republican front-runner.

According to unofficial results announced Saturday evening by Maine Republican Party Chairman Charlie Webster, Romney took 39 percent of votes during statewide caucuses held during the last few weeks. Paul finished second at 36 percent.

“It’s good news. I’m hopeful this ends Romney’s little slide,” Maine House Speaker Robert Nutting said shortly after the announcement. “Romney is the best candidate to beat President Obama in the fall.”

Peter Cianchette, the Maine chairman for the Romney campaign and a former candidate for governor, said his candidate received broad support across the state despite a strong push by Paul.

“This was clearly a win and I think Maine showed him tremendous support,” Cianchette said.

Paul’s campaign didn’t declare victory in Maine but said things could still change because not all of Maine Republicans have caucused.

“Today’s results show once again that Congressman Paul’s campaign for liberty and a return to Constitutional principles is strong and growing,” Paul’s national campaign chairman Jesse Benton said in a statement. “We are confident that we will control the Maine delegation for the convention in August.”

For weeks, Maine had been considered a race between Romney and Paul and both candidates spent time in the state on Saturday to solidify support.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum did not actively campaign here and it showed. Santorum took 18 percent of the vote in Maine’s presidential preference poll, while Gingrich took only 6 percent.

Ruth Summers, vice chair of the Maine GOP, said while it’s true that the presidential preference poll is nonbinding, it does “take the pulse of the Republican party in the state of Maine.”

The results announced Saturday included about 90 percent of the towns that participated in caucuses but Summers said that would be considered the final vote.

A handful of communities are scheduled to hold theirs later this month. Washington County Republicans were supposed to caucus on Saturday but canceled on Friday because of pending snow.

Maine will have 24 national delegates at the national convention in August but they will be nonbinding delegates not pledged to any candidate. Historically, a nominee is usually chosen by convention time so those delegates go to that nominee.

About 200 prominent state Republicans attended the Maine Republican Party event on Saturday at the Regency in Portland.

Originally, several were scheduled to speak, including Nutting, Attorney General William Schneider and Secretary of State Charlie Summers. However, in order to release the results ahead of the evening news, the schedule was condensed.

Only U.S. Sen. Susan Collins spoke. She was introduced after Webster announced that Maine Republicans “broke caucus attendance records from Fort Kent to Kittery.”

“It doesn’t surprise me that we’ve had record turnout because the stakes are so high,” she said, adding that no matter who the candidate is, “we’ll all unite to elect a Republican president this fall.”

“We must not be the first generation to pass along to the next generation an America that is less free, that is less prosperous, that provides less opportunity,” Collins continued. “We Republicans have the vision, the ideas, the commitment and the candidates to ensure that that is not America’s fate.”

Paul was holding an event in Portland as well. Summers said the candidate was invited to the Maine GOP party but she wasn’t sure why he declined the invitation.

Sam Spencer, representing Maine for the Democratic National Committee, said Romney shouldn’t consider Saturday a decisive victory.

“He won with 50 percent of the vote in 2008 and beat Paul by more than 30 percent that year,” Spencer said. “I think the result in Maine shows that there is still a significant lack of enthusiasm for Romney.”

Spencer said he thinks the longer the GOP race drags on, the better it is for President Obama.

The Republican nomination fight moves to Arizona and Michigan later this month, followed by Super Tuesday on March 10, during which 10 states will hold primaries or caucuses.

Earlier in the day Saturday, Romney received more good news: He won the straw poll at at the Conservative Political Action Conference with 38 percent of the vote, followed by Santorum with 31 percent. Most rank Romney as the least conservative of the four candidates left in the race.

However, Politico reported earlier Saturday that a recent PPP tracking poll showed Santorum ahead of Romney, thanks in large part to Santorum’s wins in Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri earlier this week.