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Rigging the Vote at CPAC

The year’s CPAC event was pretty much like every other CPAC:  candidates pandered(link is external), right-wing speakers launched crazy accusations(link is external), a vibe of general weirdness(link is external) pervaded … and Ann Coulter said something predictably moronic(link is external).

But everything appears to have worked out for Gov. Mitt Romney, who was so committed to winning CPAC’s meaningless straw poll that his campaign brought in(link is external) some 225 students to stuff the ballot box.  And it paid off, with Romney winning 21 percent(link is external) of the 1,705 votes cast, meaning Romney received 359 votes.

So, ignoring the 225 votes Romney bought and paid for, he received only 134 votes among the other 1480 cast, giving him just over 9% - less than Giuliani (17%), Brownback (15%), Gingrich (14%), and McCain (12%).  

Considering that Gingrich isn’t even an announced candidate and McCain openly snubbed(link is external) the event, Romney’s “victory” appears to have been anything but.