Byron York writing in NRO…

The results from the Values Voters straw poll are in. As I suggested yesterday, there is a significant difference between the tally that includes Internet ballots and that of just those people who actually attended the conference. Of the conference attendees, Mike Huckabee won with 51 percent of the vote. Mitt Romney was second with ten percent. Fred Thompson was third with eight percent, followed by Tom Tancredo, Rudy Giuliani, Duncan Hunter, John McCain, Sam Brownback and Ron Paul.

Looking at the tally that includes Internet voting, Romney won with 27.62 percent of the vote, with Huckabee very close with 27.15 percent. Ron Paul was third with 15 percent, followed by Thompson, Brownback, Hunter, Tancredo, Giuliani, and McCain.

Redstate - Huckabee crushes all comers

The FRC Action Straw Poll confirms that Mike Huckabee is the big winner here today.
In the online poll that the Romney campaign pushed hard to win, he only managed to get thirty more votes than Mike Huckabee — 1595 to 1565 or 27.62% to 27.10%.
But, of the crowd *at* the Washington Briefing, Huckabee dominated everyone else.

David Brody - Huckabee’s Grand Slam

I’ve covered a few of Huckabee’s speeches and he’s always funny and clear. But he took it to another level today. He was as sharp as a tack. He came with a purpose. Three purposes in fact.

First of all, he started his speech talking tough on fighting terrorism. The whisper campaign against him is that he may not be up for the fight with radical jihadists. Huckabee’s speech though was full of “we’re gonna get them” talk. Clearly, this weak on terrorism perception has been communicated to him and by leading his speech with terrorism Saturday and speaking forcefully, he addressed it head on.

Then he addressed the electability issue. There’s this idea that he’s VP material or can’t win a General Election. Huckabee riled the crowd up and said nonsense. They loved it and rose to their feet.

Finally, he came with a very straightforward purpose. He told the crowd that he’s one of them. He is a value voter. The crowd gave him standing ovation after standing ovation.

Ross Douthat - Who owns the GOP?

….the current Republican race is so interesting - it’s a laboratory, in a sense, for determining which interest groups really have clout in the GOP primaries, and which issues really excite the faithful. If Rudy Giuliani wins the nomination, it will tell us a lot about the real influence (or lack thereof) of folks like James Dobson; if John McCain gets the nod, we’ll know that immigration and (to a lesser extent) campaign-finance reform are more important to activists than to actual voters; if Huckabee becomes a significent spoiler (or, though it’s much more unlikely, an actual contender) then we’ll know the Club for Growth doesn’t have quite as much clout as most people, left and right, assume to be the case. And if Fred Thompson or Mitt Romney wins, it will reinforce the notion that all of the various issues and interest groups jostling in the GOP tent really are a package deal, and that the best way to take the nomination, now and forever, is to make sure you’ve checked all your boxes, even if it means flip-flopping like crazy.