Straw Poll: Who do you want in 2012?

Two months ago, I asked who you guys want to be the Republican presidential candidate in 2012. Sarah Palin carried the day with a whopping 46% of your votes. The nearest competitor was Herman Cain, who got just 13.4%.

Here's the latest on the possible candidates and then another poll.

Sarah Palin hasn't been in the news nearly as much as she was during our last poll, which was in the aftermath of the Arizona shooting. She did post the other day that she's through whining (her word) about the MBM. Technorati notes that Palin is winning the social media race. She has more than 2.8 million friends on Facebook and more than 462,000 followers on Twitter.

Mitt Romney continues to plug along. A Pew Poll of self-described Tea Party supporters just found Romney leading, with 25% making him their top choice in 2012.

Mitch Daniels says he hasn't decided whether to run yet, though he just collected the endorsement of Dick Armey, chairman of the Tea Party group FreedomWorks. Daniels' decision has been complicated by the Indiana legislative standoff. Democratic state lawmakers remain in Illinois, despite Daniels' weakness on passing a bill to curb union abuses.

Herman Cain is probably the most active candidate right now. He keeps popping up at events. This weekend he won the straw poll at Congressman Steve King’s Conservative Principles Conference in Iowa.

Newt Gingrich was on Fox News Sunday yesterday, where he's still trying to put the incessant discussion of his affairs and marriages to rest. Gingrich recently made the obligatory kowtow to revisionist Bryan Fischer of the AFA.

Haley Barbour was also in Iowa over the weekend, where he said that we should "proceed in national policy as if global warming is actually happening." He also criticized the Obama Administration, saying that it "too often thinks we’re too stupid to take care of ourselves."

Mike Huckabee shared the stage with, among others, Van Jones last night at a "State of the Student" summit put on by Florida State and Florida A&M. According to the news report, Huckabee was a favorite of students because he is "authentic."

Tim Pawlenty is fighting back against charges that he supported Sharia-compliant financing to encourage homeownership in Minnesota, which I didn't realize was a bad thing. A Pawlenty spokesman says the governor terminated the Sharia loan program as soon as he found out about it. Apparently, only three people used the program before it was killed.

Finally, Michelle Bachmann is still exploring the possibility of running. She was also at the Conservative Principles Conference in Iowa over the weekend, where she talked about the importance of two-parent families. Bachmannn will be back in Iowa on April 11.

That's the news, now the poll.

Thanks for voting.

posted by Gabriel Malor at 07:31 AM

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