On Saturday, the straw poll was won by Mitt Romney at the Southern Republican Leadership that can be considered as a sign of the former Massachusetts governor’s power as a presidential candidate in 2012.

Just a single vote helped Romney triumph over Ron Paul, taking second place 439 votes to 438.

Both of them men won 24 percent. With 18 percent of the vote each, Sarah Palin together with Newt Gingrich shared third. The conservative activists who took part in the conference reached 1,806 ballots. The rest of candidates didn’t get more than 4 percent of the vote.

Washington Post’s David Weigel reported that both the candidates had made a lot of efforts to win the straw poll. Those who supported Romney and Paul spent lots of money, paying for 200 tickets for supporters together with Paul’s Campaign for Liberty offering more than six hundred discounted tickets for Paul backers.
Paul’s supporters cheered their beloved candidate in a rather loud manner when he was speaking in comparison to other conference-goers. The rest of attendees stayed silent or just applauded politely during Paul’s speech.

Supporters from “Evangelicals for MItt” were giving out books together with buttons and piggy banks to conference visitors and asked them to vote for Paul. Conference Organizers claimed they did not co-ordinate with Romney’s PAC or staff, although one voter speculated that they got in touch with her via Romney’s email list and offered a complimentary ticket.