Well, bad speech or not, Romney won the straw poll there with 39% of 979 votes cast, McCain tallied 27%, Rudy came in just behind Ron Paul and Thompson got a distant fifth. Again, you can’t beat organization as Romney got his folks there to vote. Giuliani and McCain must be mighty pleased Michigan went with an open primary rather than a caucus where Romney’s organization would have given him a significant advantage.
UPDATE: A helpful round up is here with praise from Michigan GOP chair Saul Anuzis for McCain’s speech and muted criticism for Thompson’s. His take: the vote reflects the preference of the “party apparatus.”
