1. Mike Huckabee (170 votes, 28.48%)
2. Mitt Romney (74 votes, 12.40%)
3. Tim Pawlenty (73 votes, 12.23%)
4. Sarah Palin (72 votes, 12.06%)
5. Mike Pence (71 votes, 11.89%)
6. Newt Gingrich (40 votes, 6.70%)
7. Bobby Jindal (28 votes, 4.69%)
8. Rick Santorum (15 votes, 2.51%)
9. Ron Paul (13 votes, 2.18%)
10. Undecided (31 votes, 5.19%)
11. Other (10 votes, 1.68%)
Clearly, Huckabee owned it. Right Wing Watch notes that Romney technically won last time, because of online voting, but voting at the event went Huckabee. This year, online voting was scratched and "not surprisingly, the change worked to Huckabee's advantage."
Interestingly, some of the most talked about names didn't do very well. Sarah Palin lost out to Minnesota Gov. Tim "Who?" Pawlenty, Bobbie Jindal loses to Gingrich, and one who should be a religious right darling -- former Sen. Rick Santorum -- barely beats out Ron Paul. I think the religious right has lost a lot of power lately. Let's face it, the teabaggers aren't extremely focused, but that's their advantage here -- it's like a coalition of the whining. Everyone's welcome, so long as you hate Obama with every fiber of your being. It's just a bigger tent.
So don't expect this to be any measure at all of what's going to happen in '12. The "values voters" aren't the movers and shakers they once were and that election's still way the hell and gone off in the future. Still, you get a pulse. Palin, Jindal, and Santorum have some work ahead of them. Although, it wouldn't surprise me if Palin were more popular with the teabaggers than with the religious right. She matches their tone; angry, incoherent, and factually-challenged.
Still, if the idea of a President Jindal or Santorum wakes you up at night in cold sweats, you can breath a little easier. If they don't even have these guys, they probably don't have anyone. Add to this the fact that Huckabee wasn't really trying (his statement on winning is that it's "flattering," but he's "a long way from deciding to run" again) and they're looking pretty screwed.
