Texas Rep. Ron Paul won a California straw poll, the state Republican Party announced in a statement Saturday night.
A total of 833 ballots were cast during the straw poll, the statement said.
Paul won with 44.9% of the votes, Texas Gov. Rick Perry came in second with 29.3% of the votes, and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney came in third with 8.8% of the votes.
In the latest Field Poll, however, Paul lags far behind Romney and Perry, with just 7 percent GOP support. What accounts for the difference? David Siders explains at The Sacramento Bee:
Ron Paul may have won the California Republican Party's straw poll Saturday, but his votes came at a price: A Paul supporter wrote a check for $26,000 to register Paul supporters and allow them to vote, Flashreport.org publisher Jon Fleischman said this morning.
The Texas congressman won 374 votes, roughly 45 percent of the vote. Registration for each person cost about $100.
...
Nothing in party rules prohibits such a payment, and registration fees benefit the party.
"It turns out that it costs money to participate in a straw poll," party Chairman Tom Del Beccaro told delegates this morning. "We had a lot of new participants."
