Ron Paul shocks South Carolina GOP - Strong showing in Focus on the Family-linked Straw Poll

The Palmetto Family Council Straw Poll was last night in Columbia South Carolina. The PFC is a local affiliate of James Dobson's Focus on the Family and this event is historically considered a major test of organizational strength among S.C. evangelicals.

Even though the ballot contained the names of 20 candidates, Republican and Democrat, the night was dominated by only two...former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee and Dr. Ron Paul. Huckabee, along with Duncan Hunter and a couple of barely-ran's that I couldn't pick out of a line-up, appeared in person to make their pitch to the gathered faithful. Dr. Paul phoned in from Michigan and spoke for about 10 minutes highlighting his strong record on social and cultural issues such as abortion and immigration.

We had a great table and gave out a couple of hundred DVD's as well as issue papers, bumper stickers, slimjims, and tri-folds. Our numbers were so overwhelming that Duncan Hunter commented during his speech that he was glad he could come to the event and have his picture taken with all of these Ron Paul supporters.

In the end, we couldn't quite muster the votes to overcome Huckabee's popularity among evangelicals, but just as in Florida we came in a respectable second only 27 votes behind Huckabee! Here is the final vote total. Names not listed are those that received less than 2 votes.

Huckabee (206) 39%
Paul (179) 33%
Thompson (33) 6%
Brownback (29) 5%
Hunter (25) 5%
Romney (14) 3%
Gilbert (12) 2%
McCain (10) 2%
Cort (7) 1%
Guiliani (5) 1%