Writes Kimberly Salian: “On January 15 at the Dixie Republican Forum luncheon in St. George, Utah, five speakers representing the Paul, Romney, Huckabee, Thompson, and Keyes campaigns participated in a panel. The representatives discussed their candidates’ views on foreign policy, taxes and spending, and social issues.
“After the presentations, the Forum held a straw poll; here are the results:
Paul: 28
Romney: 18
Keyes: 7
Thompson: 5
McCain: 5
Huckabee: 2
Giuliani: 1
Tancredo: 1
“On the second round faceoff against the top two candidates, Ron Paul got 36 votes, while Mitt Romney came in with 32.
“I was shocked when they announced Ron Paul the winner. We had a few people from the local Meetup there, but we didn’t “pack” the room by any means. I expected Romney to walk away with the vote because of the Mormon majority in the room.
“After the meeting, I had several people come up to tell me they were going to vote for another candidate, but switched their vote to Ron Paul after hearing our presentation. There were at least five people who expressed interest in joining the Meetup and/or getting bumper stickers and yard signs.”
2:12 pm on January 18, 2008
