(Ames, IA) The perceived front-runner in the Republican presidential race attracted almost 8,000 Iowans to the state party’s Straw Poll, winning the contest as he’d promised when first setting foot in Iowa back in June.
Texas Governor George W. Bush, the son of former President George Bush, had vowed to win the event, which is a fundraiser for the Iowa Republican Party. Over 24,000 Iowans cast ballots in the contest.
Billionaire magazine publisher Steve Forbes secured second place. Former American Red Cross President Elizabeth Dole came in third.
In the last Straw Poll in 1995, only 11,000 participated, and some were out-of-staters. This time around, party officials insisted on proof of Iowa residency and installed monitors in restrooms to ensure participants weren’t trying to vote twice by washing off the indelible ink marked on the hand of each voter.
Here are the final tallies:
- Bush, 7,418 votes
- Forbes 4,921 votes
- Elizabeth Dole, 3,410 votes
- Gary Bauer, 2,114 votes
- Pat Buchanan, 1,719 votes
- Lamar Alexander, 1,428 votes
- Alan Keyes, 1,101 votes
- Dan Quayle, 916 votes
- Orrin Hatch, 558 votes
- John McCain, 83 votes
- John Kasich, 9 votes
- Bob Smith, 8 votes.
The top nine candidates spoke during a rally in Hilton Coliseum, where the $25 Straw Poll ballots were cast. Arizona Senator John McCain refused to participate, calling the event a “sham.” Bob Smith recently left the Republican party to run as a U.S. Taxpayers Party candidate and John Kasich, the chairman of the House Budget Committee, announced in July he was dropping out of the race to endorse Bush.