Gay GOP group GOProud's CPAC write-in
campaign for real estate mogul Donald Trump appears to have fizzled.
Texas Congressman Ron Paul finished
first in this weekend's Conservative Political Action Conference
(CPAC) presidential straw poll with 30 percent of the vote. It is the
second consecutive win for Paul at CPAC.
Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt
Romney came in second with 23 percent of the vote.
Other notables include former New
Mexico Governor Gary Johnson (6%), former House Speaker Newt Gingrich
(5%), former Minnesota Governor Michele Bachmann (4%), former Alaska
Governor Sarah Palin (3%), former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee
(2%), and former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum (2%).
Palin and Huckabee decided against
attending the event this year.
But Palin remarked on the controversy
surrounding GOProud from a distance. The
Tea Party favorite said she disagreed with social conservatives who
organized a boycott of CPAC for allowing the gay group to co-sponsor
the event.
GOProud asked Trump to address the
crowd and organized a write-in campaign for the billionaire
celebrity. Official results show 5 percent of the 3,742 ballots cast
were for someone not officially listed, but how many people voted for
Trump was not disclosed.
Trump
was booed by the crowd when he said Paul wasn't a serious
presidential contender. He also said he'll decide by June
whether he'll toss his hat in the ring for 2012.
GOProud's welcome at next year's event
appears to be in jeopardy after the
group's chairman, Christopher Barron, took a swipe at Cleta Mitchell,
a prominent Republican lawyer.