Writes Eric Larson, MD: “I just heard these results from a friend in the Muskegon, MI, meetup group. The Oceana County GOP held a straw poll at the county fair over the weekend (8/22-25). The only campaigns that had any presence were Romney and Paul. The GOP table only had material for those campaigns because they were the only ones who provided info for people dropping by.

“There was a Ron Paul table set up by a few meetup organizers. This straw poll was in no way “spammed.” There were no supporters beyond the 2 or 3 from the Muskegon meetup group. I am in Grand Rapids (only 45 minutes away), a meetup organizer, and didn’t even know about the straw poll. So these results are indicative of the ability of Dr. Paul’s message to resonate with GOP voters in a rural county in Michigan.

“The Ron Paul meetup team had one person hand out the standard Ron Paul slim jim to everyone entering the fair grounds and then many of them went to the GOP table and the Ron Paul table. Their top issue of concern with the GOP was the Patriot Act.

“Here are the results: Romney 50 (36%), Paul 37 (27%), McCain 27 (20%), Guiliani 24 (17%) (no other votes for anyone else).”