Mitt Romney Wins Colorado Straw Poll

Colorado just held its first Presidential straw poll and Mitt Romney came out on top as the winner of that poll:

"Unsurprisingly, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney — who won the 2008 Colorado caucuses with 59 percent of the vote over John McCain’s 19 percent in a nonbinding preference poll — led with 76 votes, twice the tally of his nearest competitor, though he only garnered roughly one-fourth of the total votes. Next in line was Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, a conservative lightning rod who has been making noise about a possible presidential bid in recent weeks, with 38 votes. Another half-dozen candidates bunched up with similar votes.

It’s a safe bet not everyone voting in the straw poll took their votes entirely seriously, as several Colorado Republicans — including U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman, Denver Republican Party Secretary Brett Moore and four of the five state party chair candidates — received at least one vote.

The top 10 vote-getters, after Romney and Bachmann, were former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty — the only announced candidate so far — with 34 votes, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels with 27, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie with 26, tied with businessman and TV personality Donald Trump, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin with 20, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich with 19, businessman Herman Cain with 14 and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee with 12."

Here's a tally of each of the votes:

1	Romney	76
2	Bachmann	38
3	Pawlenty	34
4	Daniels	27
5	Christie	26
6	Trump	26
7	Palin	20
8	Gingrich	19
9	Cain	14
10	Huckabee	12

Colorado is considered a swing state and therefore, its nine electoral votes are crucial in winning the 2012 elections. However, the advantage goes to Mitt Romney because Colorado usually votes Republican in Presidential elections and is the best potential Republican 2012 candidate who can win Colorado state in a campaign against Barack Obama.