Ron Paul has won his fifth Republican Straw Poll by another decisive margin.
October 31, 2011- Ron Paul, the GOP presidential candidate from Texas, won the Straw Poll for the National Federation of Republican Assemblies in Des Moines on Saturday. He won 82% of the votes amongst the participating Iowans.
Herman Cain placed second with an overall 14% while Newt Gingrich former Speaker of the House; Senator Rick Santorum; Rick Perry, Governor of Texas; and Michele Bachmann each earned just 1% of the vote. Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts Governor and Jon Huntsman, the former Governor of Utah, did not receive any votes in the Poll.
Right from the start of the event it was obvious most came to see Rep. Paul. He received a very warm welcome from the several hundred people in the audience. He told the audience that the government needs to be less intrusive, more open, focus on the national debt and overhaul foreign policy.
He mentioned the Patriot Act and how the government has used the Act to intrude on the lives of people across the country. He said it undermines one of the basic rights we all have – liberty. He wants investigations into the Iraqi War, the Federal Reserve and loans made by the government such as to Solyndra.
He called the current foreign policy in the U.S. “deeply flawed” and said, “It is time we return home and take care of our own business.”
Paul emphasized the importance of decreasing the debt, lowering the federal budget and having a complete audit done of the Federal Reserve. He says those three things would help to put the country back on the right track.
