In a carnival atmosphere, Romney wins Iowa straw poll

Some votes had to be counted by hand.

AMES, Iowa (AP) — Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney won an easy and expected victory in a high-profile Iowa Republican Party Straw Poll on Saturday, claiming nearly twice as many votes as his nearest rival.

Romney had been expected to win the test because he spent millions of dollars and months of effort on an event that was skipped by two of his major rivals.

Romney scored 4,416 votes to outpace former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee who had 2,587 votes. Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback was third with 2,192 votes.

Announcement of the results were delayed for 90 minutes because a hand count was required on one of the 18 machines.

The biggest loser of the evening likely was former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson, who finished in 6th place with 1,039 votes. He had said repeatedly that if he didn’t finish in the top two his campaign was likely to end. He left the event before the results were announced, and there was no announcement from his campaign.

How they fared

The missing big names got only a handful of votes.

Former Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee got 203 votes. He was on the ballot, although not an officially declared candidate.

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani received 183 votes and Sen. John McCain of Arizona got 101.

As many as 40,000 Republicans joined Saturday for a high-profile straw poll featuring barbecue, music, speeches and a chance to winnow the GOP’s field of presidential candidates.

The results were delayed by more than an hour, which the Republican Party of Iowa blamed on “machine difficulties.” At least one machine, about 1,500 votes, had to be counted by hand, and took far longer than party officials had expected.

The grounds around Iowa State University’s basketball arena took on a carnival atmosphere on the steamy day as candidates erected huge air-conditioned tents where they courted activists with food, prizes and plenty of rhetoric.