Beltway Confidential

Santorum: ‘I don’t try to rig straw polls’

By Charlie Spiering
Published February 13, 2012 5:00am ET
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Santorum: ‘I don’t try to rig straw polls’
Should Mitt Romney’s victory in the CPAC straw poll be a sign of a momentum shift in his direction among conservatives? Rick Santorum doesn’t think so, “You know those straw polls, at CPAC,” he said on CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday, according to the National Journal. “For two years Ron Paul has won […]

Should Mitt Romney’s victory in the CPAC straw poll be a sign of a momentum shift in his direction among conservatives? Rick Santorum doesn’t think so,

“You know those straw polls, at CPAC,” he said on CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday, according to the National Journal. “For two years Ron Paul has won those because he just trucks in a lot of people, pays for their ticket, and they come in and vote and they leave. We didn’t do that. We don’t do that. I don’t try to rig straw polls.”

Romney does have a history of straw poll victories at CPAC, winning three in a row in ’07, ’08, and ’09, usually a result of significant student recruiting. This year’s vote included 45 percent identified as attending individuals and 44 percent students.

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