Palin Ties Paul... for Third... Among Conservative Base

Sarah Palin in 2012—yeah, right, say conservatives. At CPAC 2009, the just-concluded gathering of hardcore conservatives (also known as the base the GOP is playing to), Governor Palin placed third in a straw poll that asked attendees whom they would nominate as GOP 2012 Presidential candidate. Full results (in PowerPoint format):

• Mitt Romney: 20%
• Bobby Jindal: 14%
• Ron Paul: 13%
• Sarah Palin: 13%
• Newt Gingrich: 10%
• Mike Huckabee: 7%
• Mark Sanford: 4%
• Rudy Giuliani: 3%
• Tim Pawlenty: 2%
• Charlie Crist: 1%
• Undecided: 10%

What? No John Thune?

The big point: Sarah Palin tied with Ron Paul. That means one of two things: Ron Paul has a shot (Madison Libertarians, rejoice!) , or Sarah Palin doesn't.

---------------------
Underview: even the rabid CPACkers may be ready to get off the abortion horse. When participants were asked to name their top two issues, abortion came in fifth, behind shrinking the federal government, reducing spending, the war on terrorism, and lowering taxes. Gun rights comes in #10. Could Obama be driving conservatives to get back to fiscal nuts and bolts? Let's hope so!

The straw poll doesn't represent all conservatives: it actually skewed young, with a big student contingent making up a majority of respondents. But I find it interesting—and encouraging?—to see the youngsters on the other side of the aisle focusing on practical policy issues over the contrived and unproductive culture war.