The American Spectator

As Erick Erickson over at RedState pointed out on Saturday, Romney, struggling in the polls everywhere he isn’t spending money on media buys, is reduced to also buying up straw polls to promote his candidacy.

He will have plunked down close to an estimated $5 million to make the Ames Republican Straw Poll in Iowa next month a personal political rally (no other major GOP candidate will be participating), and that includes outbidding by sometimes three times as much his nearest competitor for bus rentals to get his folks into Ames.

Romney did something similar over the weekend in Hollywood, Florida, at the Young Republicans convention there. Romney paid for the YR dinner, according to several YR board members, but with the proviso that the straw poll rules be changed so that anyone attending the dinner could vote (previously, only YR delegates voted in the straw poll).

Romney, and his on-site organizer, Jordan Sekulow, bused in about 100 Romney donors, all of whom appeared to exceed by at least 20 years the under-40 age requirement typically used as a guideline for YR membership.

“We’re all young at heart,” said one Romney backer, who happily submitted a ballot for Romney and claimed to be “younger than 70.”

In the end, Romney won the straw poll with 168 votes. Fred Thompson, who made a surprise appearance at the YR luncheon earlier in the day, came in second with 103. Rudy Giuliani was far back in 3rd, with 37.

“I guess Governor Romney did need every one of those 100 tickets he used,” said a YR board member. “This isn’t one of our finer moments.”