Huckabee Wins Conservative Straw Poll

Hints at Romney problems, saying too late to 'spin it'

(NEWSER) - Sarah Palin topped off the Conservative Political Action Conference last night with a rousing speech, avoiding endorsing any candidate, but certainly hinting at Mitt Romney's weaknesses, reports the Wall Street Journal . Palin said that Republicans need a conservative whose beliefs are "instinctive," not someone molded by spin doctors and Washington consultants. "It's too late in the game to teach it or spin it at this point," said Palin, without actually mentioning Romney by name. "It's either there or it isn't." More»

'I'm not there yet with the field as it stands,' she grouses

(NEWSER) - She's baaaack ... maybe. With the GOP line-up still creaky, Sarah Palin let slip on the Fox Business Network that it's "not too late for folks to jump in. Who knows what might happen in the future?" Or so she mused last night when asked on Follow the Money if she might make a late entrance. The tease didn't lead to any specifics. Palin announced in October she would not seek the nomination but that could change. When she was quizzed over the weekend about whom she would endorse, she didn't have an answer, notes the New York Times. “I am just not there yet with the field as it stands,” she responded, adding more sauce to the tantalizing mystery. More»

Support of seasoned activists could make the difference in Iowa

(NEWSER) - People who teach their children at home helped Mike Huckabee beat Mitt Romney in 2008's Iowa caucuses, and there's plenty of competition for the help of homeschoolers this time around, Reuters finds. In Iowa, homeschoolers are mainly Christian conservatives, and the group can provide the right candidate with a small army of determined volunteers with a ready-made network and a strong tradition of activism. More»

Orthodoxy vies with electability among party faithful

(NEWSER) - Herman Cain's surprise win in Florida's straw poll yesterday shows how unpredictable this election cycle is—but it also provides some valuable lessons about that state of the GOP nation, reports the St. Petersburg Times .

• The top GOP contender is still Not-Mitt-Romney: Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry—Republicans are still waiting for the great candidate who can lead them to the chosen land. All they know for now is that frontrunner Romney is not him. Next up ... Chris Christie? .
• It's too late for a new candidate: A major reason Perry imploded was that he just did not have enough time to get the infrastructure in place that he needed. Money, volunteers, the whole process takes way too much work to ramp up so late in the game. So maybe Christie is not an option, after all.

Florida straw poll too unrepresentative to be useful

(NEWSER) - The Florida straw poll yesterday that saw Herman Cain trounce the competition means ... well, nothing, writes Ben Adler in the Nation . Cain received 37% of the vote, compared to 15% for Rick Perry and 14% for Mitt Romney. "In the usual manner of these inane expectations’ games, the loss for Perry is seen as worse than for Romney because (he) attempted to win the Florida straw poll and Romney did not," says Adler. More»