Ron Paul Wins Virginia GOP Straw Poll

Ron Paul won an informal straw poll of Virginia Republicans Saturday at the state party's annual weekend retreat. The Texas congressman got 182 of the 479 ballots cast, or 38 percent. Former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson finished second with 112 votes, with former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee third with 51. Dozens of noisy Paul followers packed the late afternoon speeches by proxies for the candidates in a suburban Washington, D.C., hotel and the voting afterward."They weren't here yesterday," said state GOP chairman John Hager. About 700 Republican activists registered for the Friday and Saturday event. "We had no indication until around 3 o'clock that this would happen." Mitt Romney got 43 votes, Sen. John McCain got 23, California congressman Duncan Hunter got 19 and Colorado congressman Tom Tancredo finished with four votes.