Michele Bachmann Wins Iowa Straw Poll

"These are my thumbs." Photo from source, NYT

The media is making a big deal out of Michele Bachmann's win at the Ames Straw Poll. But if you know much about the poll, you know that the poll is kind of dodgy. You have to pay to be in it. Candidates sometimes strategically avoid it. The poll has been conducted a grand total of six--you read that right--six times. And only once in its history has the winner of the poll also won the Presidency.

You can throw in that the poll has in the past been won by Pat Robertson. And that the last time it was held (2007) the winners of the straw poll, the Iowa caucuses, the Republican primary and the general election were four different people. Put all of that together, and you can safely say that Bachmann's chances of becoming President are now no more clear than they were yesterday. Oh, and Ron Paul was essentially tied with her. So there's that.

[Excerpt]


Iowa Poll Goes to Bachmann; Paul Is Second

The race for the Republican presidential nomination entered a new phase on Saturday as Gov. Rick Perry of Texas declared his candidacy in South Carolina and Michele Bachmann won a closely watched poll of voters in Iowa. . .

Read more at: New York Times