Republican hopeful Mitt Romney cruised to an expected win in the first key test of next year's White House race, in a party popularity poll in Iowa devalued by the absence of his top rivals.
The former Massachusetts governor captured 31.5 percent of the vote in the non-binding party straw poll in the midwestern state, which holds the first nominating contest for Democratic and Republican candidates next year.
"Today, the people of Iowa took the first step towards bringing change to Washington," Romney said.
"This important victory sends a signal to grassroots Republican activists across the country that we are working hard to earn their support, and that we are ready to begin the work of strengthening our economy, our military and our families."
Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee put in a strong showing, coming in second with 18.1 percent, with Senator Sam Brownback, who has courted the Republican Party's conservative Christian base on 15.3 percent.
The Iowa straw poll is a traditional curtain raiser to the presidential election season, but was hit this year by the absence of several top contenders.
Rudolph Giuliani, the ex-mayor of New York, and Senator John McCain balked at shelling out several millions of dollars needed to bus in thousands of supporters to the straw poll, with tickets going for US$35 a head.
They also judged there was little to be gained by risking a poor showing in the event, five months before the Iowa caucuses.
Former screen star and senator Fred Thompson was also missing, as he has not yet officially launched his campaign, though is expected to jump into the race in September.
national polls
Giuliani leads most Republican national polls, ahead of Fred Thompson, with Romney trailing. But Romney tops opinion polls in Iowa, and another early voting state New Hampshire after pouring millions of dollars into his campaign.
Rock bottom showings by several other candidates in Iowa looked set to winnow down the Republican field.
Former Wisconsin governor Tommy Thompson said he would end his campaign if he failed to come in the first two spots in the straw poll: in the event he trailed in sixth with just seven percent of the vote.
Another Republican long-shot congressman Duncan Hunter was ninth with just one percent.
Counting of the 14,000 votes by activists by state Republican Party officials was slowed by a voting machine glitch, and came after a day of political pageantry, barbecues, political speech making and music concerts in this university town.
Earlier, thousands of Republican Party faithful flocked to the indoor sports arena hosting speeches from top candidates.
‘EYE FOR AN EYE’: Two of the men were shot by a male relative of the victims, whose families turned down the opportunity to offer them amnesty, the Supreme Court said Four men were yesterday publicly executed in Afghanistan, the Supreme Court said, the highest number of executions to be carried out in one day since the Taliban’s return to power. The executions in three separate provinces brought to 10 the number of men publicly put to death since 2021, according to an Agence France-Presse tally. Public executions were common during the Taliban’s first rule from 1996 to 2001, with most of them carried out publicly in sports stadiums. Two men were shot around six or seven times by a male relative of the victims in front of spectators in Qala-i-Naw, the center
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is leaning into his banking background as his country fights a trade war with the US, but his financial ties have also made him a target for conspiracy theories. Incorporating tropes familiar to followers of the far-right QAnon movement, conspiratorial social media posts about the Liberal leader have surged ahead of the country’s April 28 election. Posts range from false claims he recited a “satanic chant” at a campaign event to artificial intelligence (AI)-generated images of him in a pool with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. “He’s the ideal person to be targeted here, for sure, due to
DISPUTE: Beijing seeks global support against Trump’s tariffs, but many governments remain hesitant to align, including India, ASEAN countries and Australia China is reaching out to other nations as the US layers on more tariffs, in what appears to be an attempt by Beijing to form a united front to compel Washington to retreat. Days into the effort, it is meeting only partial success from countries unwilling to ally with the main target of US President Donald Trump’s trade war. Facing the cratering of global markets, Trump on Wednesday backed off his tariffs on most nations for 90 days, saying countries were lining up to negotiate more favorable conditions. China has refused to seek talks, saying the US was insincere and that it
Australia’s opposition party yesterday withdrew election promises to prevent public servants from working from home and to slash more than one in five federal public-sector jobs. Opposition leader Peter Dutton announced his conservative Liberal Party had dropped its pledge that public servants would be required to work in their offices five days a week except in exceptional circumstances. “I think we made a mistake in relation to this policy,” Dutton told Nine Network television. “I think it’s important that we say that and recognize it, and our intention was to make sure that where taxpayers are working hard and their money is
RSS