Mitt Romney wins GOP presidential straw poll

By Jamie Cole
New Orleans: Mitt Romney has won a straw poll of likely 2012 presidential candidates with 439 votes, followed by Texas Rep Ron Paul with 438 votes and Sarah Palin on distant 3rd with 330 votes. Other Candidates included in Poll were Mike Huckabee, Newt Gingrich, Tim Pawlenty, Mike Pence, Rick Santorum and Gary Johnson. There were 1,806 ballots were cast.

Like previous Straw polls, , Saturday’s results should not be considered a reliable predictor of future success of winner. Last year Former Tennessee Sen. Bill Frist won the last Southern Republican leadership conference contest in 2006 but was not run for president.

On Saturday, Michael Steele Spoke to an conference, acknowledging errors and trying to learn from them. He said “I’m the first here to admit that I’ve made mistakes, and it’s been incumbent on me to take responsibility to shoulder that burden, make the necessary changes and move on,”