Jeb Bush asked to be left off of the ballot of CPAC’s final-afternoon straw poll, and really, who can blame the guy? This is not the meager Republican bench of yesteryear, my friends:
1. NH Senator Kelly Ayotte
2. AZ Governor Jan Brewer
3. KS Governor Sam Brownback
4. Neurosurgeon Ben Carson
5. NJ Governor Chris Christie
6. TX Senator Ted Cruz
7. Former IN Governor Mitch Daniels
8. SC Governor Nikki Haley
9. LA Governor Bobby Jindal
10. OH Governor John Kasich
11. NM Governor Susana Martinez
12. VA Governor Bob McDonnell
13. Former AK Governor Sarah Palin
14. KY Senator Rand Paul
15. IN Governor Mike Pence
16. TX Governor Rick Perry
17. OH Senator Rob Portman
18. FL Senator Marco Rubio
19. WI Congressman Paul Ryan
20. Former PA Senator Rick Santorum
21. SC Senator Tim Scott
22. SD Senator John Thune
23. WI Governor Scott Walker
24. Other _______________________
25. Undecided
And CPAC picked what we might consider one of the lead guitarists of the rising band of young conservative rock stars, fresh off of royally aggravating the heck out of a few senior senators earlier this week, to give the conference’s keynote speech a little after 5 PM — follow along here, and I’ll update with the straw-poll results when they’re available.
Update: No surprises there — there was no majority, but Rand Paul followed by Marco Rubio together took nearly 50 percent of the overall vote:
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