Huckabee beats Romney, Palin in soon to be forgotten poll

So Mike Huckabee beat Mitt Romney, Sarah Palin, and Tim Pawlenty in a straw poll of potential GOP presidential contenders hosted by the Family Research Council on Saturday.

Woo-hoo.

If the adrenalin isn't pulsating through your body this morning with news of the results at the Values Voter Summit, you're not alone. The Washington Huskies beat USC yesterday. Now that's news. Florida State upended BYU -- blew 'em out. Wow. Virginia Tech topped Nebraska in the last minute of the game. Now that's exciting.

Sorry, but Huckabee beating Romney at a political conference more than three years before the next presidential election? Missed that one. It didn't come across the ESPN ticker yesterday.

But since this is a political blog, we'll give it its due. And we're not diminishing the conference or the Family Research Council. It's just too early to put much into it. Not to mention the college football was really, really good yesterday.

Now, it's not like no one showed up to the three-day event. They did. More than 2,000 converged on Washington. Attendees met potential candidates, strategized with other social conservative activists, and voted on who they wanted to take on President Obama in 2012.

They were asked: “Thinking ahead to the 2012 presidential election and assuming the nomination of Barack Obama as Democrats’ choice for president, who would you vote for as the Republican nominee for president?”

Of the 597 people who cast ballots, they clearly liked former Governor Huckabee the most as he grabbed 170 of the votes or 28.5 percent of the total. Then it was a four-way tie for second with Romney receiving 74 votes, Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty getting 73, Sarah Palin with 72, and Indiana Congressman Mike Pence nabbing 71.

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