Michele Bachmann Wins Iowa Straw Poll … Tim Pawlenty Drops Out of GOP Presidential Race

US Representative Michele Bachmann (R-MN) has won the Iowa Republican Straw Poll in Ames, Iowa with 4823 votes.  Ron Paul, 4671 votes, was second and former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty placed third with 2293 votes. Look for Bachmann to gain steam and for the MSM to go after her even more as she becomes a credible threat to Barack Obama in 2012. As noted by ABC News, it is now apparent that Bachmann can now match the organizational ground skills with enthusiasm.  It is now looking like a three person race for the GOP nomination between Bachmann, Romney and Perry. Although, I agree with No Quarter, the real; race will be between Romney and Perry, two GOP candidates with executive experience as governors that will be a key issue for 2012.

Bachmann Wins … Pawlenty Out

Other notables in the Iowa straw poll following the top three were, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum (1,567), Herman Cain (1,456), Texas Gov. Rick Perry (718), former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney (567), former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (385), former Utah governor Jon Huntsman (69) and US Rep. Thad McCotter (Mich.) (35).

“What we saw happen today is this is the very first step toward taking the White House in 2012, and you have just sent a message that Barack Obama will be a one-term president,” said Bachmann (R-Minn.) after her victory was announced.

Bachmann took 4,823 votes, narrowly escaping a major upset at the hand of Texas Rep. Ron Paul who won 4,671 votes. Former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty placed third with 2,293, a showing that is likely to raise questions about his ability to continue in the contest.

One message that can be taken from the IOWA straw poll is the number of people participating, 16,892 votes cast, the second most in the history of the straw poll. Many of which were first time participants.

With Bachmann’s victory, it would appear that Pawlenty grew the short straw in yesterday’s poll. Even though former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty came in third, it was not enough to save his GOP Presidential run. According to reports, Pawlenty has dropped out of the 2012 Presidential race.  Pawlenty had gone all in in his Presidential GOP game of IOWA Hold ‘em, and lost.

Tim Pawlenty, the former governor of Minnesota, dropped his bid for the Republican nomination for president on Sunday morning, saying his disappointing performance in Iowa’s straw poll convinced him that his campaign had run its course.

Just hours after his third-place finish in Iowa, Mr. Pawlenty said on ABC’s “This Week” program that his message “didn’t get the kind of traction we needed and hoped for” in order to continue.

“There are a lot of other choices in the race,” he said. “The audience, so to speak, was looking for something different.”

For some reason Pawlenty could never get traction for his message. His lack of personality probably did not help him; however, he lost big time when during one of the previous debates he never went after Romney for his “Romneycare” in Massachusetts after hammering him on Sunday talk shows. Many were left scratching their heads as to why.