Hunter wins big in Anderson
Published April 17th, 2007 in Straw polls.
Duncan Hunter won a big victory tonight in Anderson. Romney took second and McCain took a distance third.
Word on the street is that Hunter’s consultant Robert Cahaly worked his hometown crowd extremely hard. Hunter made personal calls to delegates and attended the convention. Their strategy, similar to that seen in Spartanburg, paid off again.
Romney did well with 33 votes while McCain and Giuliani showed disappointing single digit returns. Anderson is one of the most important counties in the GOP primary.
Here are the numbers.
Hunter:Â 63
Romney:Â 33
McCain:Â 9
Giuliani:Â 7
F. Thompson:Â 5
Brownback:Â 4
Newt:Â 3
T. Thompson:Â 3
Huckabee:Â 2
Cox:Â 2
Tancredo:Â 0
That is an interesting explanation of Duncan Hunter’s performance, but how does that explain a tie for first in Spartanburg (defeating Romney 2-1), a tie with Romney for second in Greenwood, and two points behind Romney in Pickens? Does Robert Cahaly live in all four places?
No, Cahaly (which isnt how you spell his name, but we cant figure it out for the life of us) does not live in all 4 places. Although he really does live in 4 or 5 different places which we also cant figure out for the life of us.
Hunter did a lot of personal campaigning in all 4 places. He made a ton of personal calls.
We aren’t trying to bash Hunter. We are giving him props for smart strategy. These straw polls give Hunter cred where he otherwise would have none. If it were not for these straw polls and some stupid comments by Lois Eargle, SC voters would have never heard the name Duncan Hunter. So Hunter spending personal time on these straw polls is in our opinion…smart strategy.
- The Shot
It’s not so much a win for Hunter as it is a loss for McCain and Rudy. Getting single digits in a county as important as Anderson is not a good sign.
Is it any surprise that the only true conservative in the race does well in the upstate. As far as Robert Cahaly goes he is the best consultant to handle grassroots campaigning in South Carolina. Hunter did spend personal time calling the delegates in Anderson and Pickens but, you can not ignore the amount of direct mail and phone banking the other big campaigns have been doing for months. Once Republicans learn what Hunter stands for they tend to support him.
Have you ever seen Cahaly? He could live in all 4 places. He has very little credibiltiy in Anderson. He worked for the guy who ran against Mark Hammond and Hugh Weathers. Both got their asses handed to them.
He also worked for failed house candidate Dan Harvell. His wins are few and far between.
I don’t think he worked it hard. I think he was there, and that made a big difference.
The only thing Robert Cahaly is capable of handling is the Sunday all you can eat buffet at Ryan’s Steakhouse.
Charles, you seem to forget Don Bowen, Michael Thompson, and Bruce Bannister.
P.S. - Quit pretending to be Charles Crowe. I saw he and Robert hug each other at the Anderson convention after Duncan won.
To say Cahaly has no credibilty in Anderson is not true. Robert is responsible for Michael Thompson, Don Bowen, and Bruce Bannister. The lest time i checked Harvell barely lost. You may want to check your facts Charles.
Im leaning toward McCain and this is discouraging… straw polls may not be scientific or mean anything at all, but at the end of the day that argument can only be stretched so far. Bottom line is that only NINE people in an entire convention chose to vote for him privately….
Those nine people need to have their heads examined.
Hunter worked hard in Anderson. Calling individual county convention delegates would even be morework than the multiple Romney staffers do. Perspective: if five of the right people changed their votes in Pickens to SAM BROWNBACK he would have won it without ever being there. Imagine the hay that could be made from that? It’s early and participation is small. Kudos to the people who work the straw polls like real elections, but the we only count them because that’s almost the only thing to count right now. There is lots ahead for all in this race.