muzzled dogg
12-13-2011, 04:01 PM
http://www.bristolpress.com/articles/2011/12/02/news/doc4ed9967adce84567369721.txt
GOP to hold straw poll
Friday, December 2, 2011 10:29 PM EST
By Steve Collins
Staff Writer
BRISTOL — The topsy turvy Republican primary contest is coming to Bristol.
To raise money for the GOP, the state Republican Party plans to hold a presidential straw poll in Bristol early next year.
The straw poll will give the state’s GOP loyalists a chance to weigh in on who should be the party’s presidential nominee long before the April 24 primary in Connecticut.
“Let our voices be heard before New Hampshire” holds its first-in-the-nation primary, said Gary Schaffrick, a party leader from Bristol.
The New Hampshire primary is scheduled to be held Jan. 10, a week after the Iowa caucuses. The straw poll in Bristol will be held between the two contests.
The straw poll will be held online and in person at the Bristol event, which is slated to start at 6 p.m. Friday, Jan. 6, at Nuchies restaurant.
Republicans in Connecticut first tried a straw poll fundraiser during the 2008 race, when they held an event in Middletown that drew about 75 people, including representatives from many of the campaigns, including that of former Massachusetts Gov. Jane Swift.
In the straw poll four years ago, Republicans cast 382 votes, with Mitt Romney collecting 36 percent of them. The party’s eventual nominee, John McCain, got 27 percent while Ron Paul raked in 25 percent and Rudy Guiliani got 9 percent.
Schaffrick said the straw poll should prove a fun time even if it doesn’t make much difference who wins.
At this point, Romney has generally been regarded as the Republican frontrunner in the party’s quest to unseat President Barack Obama in the 2012 election.
But a number of GOP candidates are vying to snatch the nomination from Romney, including former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who has surged in the polls lately, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, businessman Herman Cain, U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, former Ambassador Jon Huntsman, and Paul.
By January, though, the number of candidates may be reduced as voters begin to weed out the pack.
Details of how the Jan. 6 fundraiser will work had not been released by Friday.
GOP to hold straw poll
Friday, December 2, 2011 10:29 PM EST
By Steve Collins
Staff Writer
BRISTOL — The topsy turvy Republican primary contest is coming to Bristol.
To raise money for the GOP, the state Republican Party plans to hold a presidential straw poll in Bristol early next year.
The straw poll will give the state’s GOP loyalists a chance to weigh in on who should be the party’s presidential nominee long before the April 24 primary in Connecticut.
“Let our voices be heard before New Hampshire” holds its first-in-the-nation primary, said Gary Schaffrick, a party leader from Bristol.
The New Hampshire primary is scheduled to be held Jan. 10, a week after the Iowa caucuses. The straw poll in Bristol will be held between the two contests.
The straw poll will be held online and in person at the Bristol event, which is slated to start at 6 p.m. Friday, Jan. 6, at Nuchies restaurant.
Republicans in Connecticut first tried a straw poll fundraiser during the 2008 race, when they held an event in Middletown that drew about 75 people, including representatives from many of the campaigns, including that of former Massachusetts Gov. Jane Swift.
In the straw poll four years ago, Republicans cast 382 votes, with Mitt Romney collecting 36 percent of them. The party’s eventual nominee, John McCain, got 27 percent while Ron Paul raked in 25 percent and Rudy Guiliani got 9 percent.
Schaffrick said the straw poll should prove a fun time even if it doesn’t make much difference who wins.
At this point, Romney has generally been regarded as the Republican frontrunner in the party’s quest to unseat President Barack Obama in the 2012 election.
But a number of GOP candidates are vying to snatch the nomination from Romney, including former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who has surged in the polls lately, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, businessman Herman Cain, U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, former Ambassador Jon Huntsman, and Paul.
By January, though, the number of candidates may be reduced as voters begin to weed out the pack.
Details of how the Jan. 6 fundraiser will work had not been released by Friday.