The Paul-try Movement or Bye Bye Barbie

I was rather surprised to hear the results of the CPAC "straw poll" over the weekend that gave Ron Paul a substantial victory.

In a strong reflection of just how strong his standing remains within the die-hard conservative community, Texas Republican and 2008 presidential candidate Rep. Ron Paul won the Conservative Political Action Conference straw poll on Saturday, earning nearly one-third (31 percent) of the entire vote. The crowd, however, booed heavily when the results were announced.

Knowing that Ron Paul supporters have the ability to be more "grass-roots" than their Tea Bagger counterparts ( even though those same people ascribe of many of the ideals that Ron Paul espouses ) what was even more surprising was that Sarah Palin scored in the single digits - here's the breakdown:

Texas Rep. Ron Paul - 31 percent
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney -- 22 percent
Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin -- 7 percent
Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty - 6 percent
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich - 4 percent
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee -- 4 percent
Indiana Rep. Mike Pence - 5 percent
South Dakota Sen. John Thune -- 2 percent
Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels -- 2 percent
Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum -- 2 percent
Mississippi Gov. Hailey Barbour - 1 percent
Other - 5 percent
Undecided - 6 percent

Nearly a quarter of those that voted did so AGAINST Sarah Palin. What's that all about? What happened to her stature as a conservative giant. The Caribou Barbie to Ronald Reagan's Cowboy Ken? What does this say about conservatives at CPAC and those at the Tea Bagger shout-fests?

Some will chalk this up to the "Paulites" ability to infest events such as this and turn the tide in their favor. Then again, not all of the alleged 10,000 people that attended this conference voted. A reported 2400 only took part in the straw poll.

Another interesting take-away from this is the fact that one rather prominent conservative blogger claims that the fact that 48% of those voting were students shows a lack of, well, adult responsibility.

Back to the number of those that voted, what does this say about the apparent 7600 people that DIDN'T think it necessary at all to vote. I mean, Sarah Palin was on the ticket for god sakes. If conservatives are all about the gimmick of Palin, why not take part in this gimmick? Has she lost some of her mojo, or is this a reflection of the way conservatives lack the ability to pay attention to what's going on around them unless some prominent figure is on stage or on Fox"News" filling their head full of piss and vinegar?

Who knows, really. None-the-less, CPAC10 was what it was intended to be - a red-meat Bacchanalia more concerned with creating the illusion that conservatives knew "what was happening" and not really providing any substance to the socio-political discourse within America.