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Dan G: What’s a straw poll worth?

Republican presidential candidate Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., takes to the stage to speak at the Republican Party’s Straw Poll in Ames, Iowa, on Saturday. (Associated Press)
Republican presidential candidate Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., takes to the stage to speak at the Republican Party’s Straw Poll in Ames, Iowa, on Saturday. (Associated Press)

AMES, Iowa – Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann won a test vote of Iowans on Saturday, a show of popularity and organizational strength for the tea party favorite five months before the state’s caucuses kick off the GOP presidential nominating season.

The result is the first indication of what Iowans think of the field of Republicans competing for the chance to challenge President Barack Obama next fall. But it’s hardly predictive of who will win the winter Iowa contest, much less the party nod or the White House.  

In the weekend Wild Card Dan Gookin wrote:

Maybe to the final election, but for fundraising such polls are money in the bank. They generate news, which is free publicity. They help activate the base, identify new volunteers. They help weed out weak candidates. Hardly inconsequential.

What do you think?



Huckleberries Online

D.F. Oliveria started Huckleberries Online on Feb. 16, 2004. Oliveria's Sunday print Huckleberries is a past winner of the national Herb Caen Memorial Column contest.