Texas Rep. Ron Paul won the Republican Leadership Conference presidential straw poll Saturday night, the latest straw poll win for the Texas Republican.
Mr. Paul won the presidential straw poll at the Republican Leadership Conference in New Orleans, easily beating out former Utah governor Jon Huntsman and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney.
Mr. Paul won the straw poll, taking 612 votes, followed by Mr. Huntsman who received 382 votes. Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann took third with 191 votes, followed by former Godfather’s CEO Herman Cain who receive 104 votes. No other candidate got more than 100.
“This win is just the latest indicator of how the majority of American opinion is turning in Ron Paul’s direction,” Jesse Benton, chairman of Mr. Paul’s campaign, said in a statement.
The straw poll is the latest victory for Mr. Paul. The Texas Republican has performed well in a number of straw polls, including the CPAC straw poll, which he won in February.
However, Mr. Paul continues to struggle in recent polls, which seem to favor Mr. Romney. The straw poll victory follows in the wake of a number of recent polls that show Mr. Paul trailing the former Massachusetts governor and other potential Republican rivals.
Speaking a crowd of supporters Friday, Mr. Paul slammed the Federal Reserve and the Obama administration’s monetary policy, saying they are bankrupting the nation.
“[The Federal Reserve] created about $5 trillion out of thin air and then they went and bailed out the big banks and the big corporations in total secrecy,” Mr. Paul said. “All those bad assets, those derivatives and all the assets that were worthless, we, the taxpayers ended up buying those with money printed out of thin air.”
