CPAC apparently offers pay-for-votes straw poll to candidates

[Edge-]

I'm not gonna link the full article, just the relevant bits -

https://www.politico.com/news/2023/0...-poll-00085757

Shortly after Vivek Ramaswamy, the biotech entrepreneur and anti-woke crusader, announced he was seeking the Republican nomination for president, a political consultant with ties to the Conservative Political Action Conference called his campaign asking if he planned to attend.

If so, the consultant had an offer, a Ramaswamy aide recalled.

“Basically, they were like, if you pay I think it was upward of $100,000, we can get tickets and bus a bunch of people in for the straw poll,” a senior campaign official for Ramaswamy described on the condition of anonymity to share details about the call. “I was taken aback, because I’ve never been to CPAC before, and it’s very activist driven but I think if any of them knew it was an artificial poll, they’d be pretty pissed about that.”

The Ramaswamy campaign declined the offer, so they did not get any more details about where the money would go or how exactly the arrangement would work. The anecdote was shared on condition that the name of the consultant not be revealed for fear of retribution. But POLITICO confirmed that the person who made the alleged offer does indeed have ties to the conference.

Bolded bit in particular is notable given that one of the repeat conspiracy theories Republicans offer up on election night is "DEMOCRATS BUSING PEOPLE FROM ONE POLL LOCATION TO THE NEXT, STATE TO STATE!", always without a single shred of evidence beyond say a small bus taking senior citizens from a nursing home or church to their polling location (dastardly!)

Color me shocked that apparently they are offering this very service to candidates who show up to CPAC and pay money for it.

I'll note: Ramaswamy is hardly the most credible of sources here.

But by that same virtue, no Republican is a credible source since they're largely all repeating the same lies and showing themselves to be untrustworthy. So given that, and that too often the crazy allegations and claims by Republicans haven't been taken seriously until they were actually serious, I'm inclined to believe him here until proven otherwise.

Because CPAC sure doesn't seem to be explicitly denying this, which is notable as well -

“A straw poll is a vote that those in attendance get to participate in. If a presidential contender is organized and popular, they can do well,” a spokesperson for CPAC said in response to POLITICO.

Once again, Republicans make it pretty clear that they have a decreasing interest in democracy, fairness, honesty, and truth.

[enigma77]

Rigged election

[Kallisto]

Pay for votes
Trans Genocide
Election denialism

Someone needs to have the "Are we the baddies." realisation over there.

[Captain N]

Pay for votes
Trans Genocide
Election denialism

Someone needs to have the "Are we the baddies." realisation over there.

The Empire didn't think they were the bad guys either. They thought they were bringing peace to the galaxy.

[Breccia]

So what you're saying is, CPAC attendance is so low, they can't do a straw poll without bussing people in?

CPAC has not given an official attendance number, but maybe Nikki Haley can comment.

[tehdang]

CPAC has gotten to be quite a joke of an event, so it's at least a believable story. Not that I particularly like sourcing from an anonymous campaign official.

[Endus]

The Empire didn't think they were the bad guys either. They thought they were bringing peace to the galaxy.

Perhaps more directly, the Nazis thought they were the good guys. Saving the Fatherland from the devious invasive foreigners. Protecting their borders. Making Germany Great Again. Etc.

Every villain thinks they're the "good guy". That doesn't mean they're right.

[beanman12345]

CPAC has gotten to be quite a joke of an event

Well, I don't hate to break the obvious, but the entirety of the GQP have gotten to be quite a joke of a party, so no duh.

[tehdang]

Well, I don't hate to break the obvious, but the entirety of the GQP have gotten to be quite a joke of a party, so no duh.

The entirety, indeed? You sure you don't want to call it a joke of a country, since the House popular vote went the Republican's way a few months ago?

[Endus]

The entirety, indeed? You sure you don't want to call it a joke of a country, since the House popular vote went the Republican's way a few months ago?

As much as you want to complain about the phrasing, every single sitting Republican is either part of the clown brigade led by the likes of Marjorie Taylor Greene and Matt Gaetz, or they're fully willing to work alongside of that clown brigade as their colleagues.

If you can show me a Republican who's openly and publicly called all of those people out, flatly rejected election denialism whenever it's cropped up, and who's never supported Trump or his policies or any one those who aided with his agenda, I could make an exception to that claim. But I'll wait while you dig up literally any counter-examples first.

[beanman12345]

The entirety, indeed? You sure you don't want to call it a joke of a country, since the House popular vote went the Republican's way a few months ago?

The entirety, yes. And no, I very clearly meant joke of a party. And that slimmest of majorities, that will probably lose with special elections before the term is over, lol, and this was you...

The red wave isn't just something that happens, it's something we're doing.

Couldn't even flip the senate, ya know the chamber that actually matters, because of judges? No, the joke of a party lost ground there...

[fwc577]

The entirety, yes. And no, I very clearly meant joke of a party. And that slimmest of majorities, that will probably lose with special elections before the term is over, lol, and this was you...



Couldn't even flip the senate, ya know the chamber that actually matters, because of judges? No, the joke of a party lost ground there...

That poster is a fucking joke in his entirety lmao. Everything he says we need to just quote his red wave bullshit.

[Shadowferal]

CPAC...and the "red wave...." any day now...

[Stormspellz]

The entirety, indeed? You sure you don't want to call it a joke of a country, since the House popular vote went the Republican's way a few months ago?

no they won gerrymandered district elections

[Kallisto]

no they won gerrymandered district elections

Eh this one-time popular vote was with the republicans for the lower house, Gerrymandering helped too but they did get 54,506,136 votes vs 51,477,313 for the democrats unfortunately.

[Breccia]

Eh this one-time popular vote was with the republicans for the lower house, Gerrymandering helped too but they did get 54,506,136 votes vs 51,477,313 for the democrats unfortunately.

This is correct.

But it changes nothing about the line in question. People voting for a particular party are endorsing that party's values and proposals. People who are in that same country, but who are not voting for that party, do not.

The party is the joke, the rest of the country is just tired of being the punch line. There is no "both sides"ing out of this one, tehdang. You're basically shitting on the living room carpet and blaming your parents for having a house with shit on the carpet.

- - - Updated - - -

I should also point out, the claims made by the OP's cited source are deemed credible enough to appear in multiple publications of status.

Politio

Business Insider

RCP

And the Washington Examiner.

In other words, reliable sources that cover the spectrum.

Team Trump and his rabid fanbase are probably bragging about the poll the same way Trump brags about others: he's beating someone who isn't running. He should actually be very concerned that he only got 62% of the votes when DeSantis wasn't even there. Seriously, imagine that nearly 40% of the people who showed up at an event at which you were the headliner didn't want to vote for you.

Also of note, I recently posted that 2,200 people showed up. This number is unofficial, but CPAC refused to give an official count, so fuck 'em and I'll go with the reporter who's been there 15 times. The straw poll had over 2,000 answers. That's a turnout ratio that's suspiciously high. Maybe Ramaswamy is lying, but he's chosen a very believable lie.

Yes, Trump won the CPAC straw poll. That doesn’t mean what you think, opines WaPo, and they cite the Madden Curse.

Well, kinda.

It’s true that Trump demolished his closest competitor, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, by a whopping 62-20 margin. One might quibble by noting that this year’s CPAC was much smaller than previous versions, suggesting that it drew only the truest of true Trump believers. Still, a 42 percentage point lead over a man who often defeats Trump in national surveys of Republican primary voters is nothing to sneeze at.

In fact, however, this seemingly good news is a historic harbinger of defeat. The CPAC straw poll has been conducted regularly for decades. The winner of the poll conducted in the year just before a presidential election in which there is no Republican incumbent has always gone on to lose the primary contest.

Some losers do well before they drop out — take Jack Kemp in 1987 and Mitt Romney in 2007. Others become answers to trivia questions, like Phil Gramm in 1995 and Gary Bauer in 1999. Throw in the Paul family’s quick washouts after winning the poll in 2011 (Ron) and 2015 (Rand), and the CPAC pre-election year straw poll has a perfect record in prognosticating primary defeat by the time the actual voting begins.

DeSantis may have skipped CPAC for this very reason: Trump has just made himself the biggest, fattest, most obese target. And WaPo wasn't even talking about Trump being arrested.

[tehdang]

The entirety, yes. And no, I very clearly meant joke of a party. And that slimmest of majorities, that will probably lose with special elections before the term is over, lol, and this was you...

Pretty serious of a joke to get so much support. Maybe it's a serious party with serious support from something like half the country, but certain political opposition thinks the party positions are a joke? Or it's poorly run?

I see you missed the joke about a recent political campaign that called a vote against that party to be a vote against Democracy, so I don't have high hopes.

no they won gerrymandered district elections

Maybe re-read the part of the post around and including "House popular vote." I'm aware of your tired old cliche. You can retract this, or if you want to be exceptional, please also claim the Republicans only won Senate seats because of gerrymandering. A leftist on the top-rated daytime talk show once did, after all.

[Milchshake]

The Empire didn't think they were the bad guys either. They thought they were bringing peace to the galaxy.

That's just good writing by bleeding heart liberals. Trying to create compelling charaters.

Your're average GOP voters are just stone cold sociopaths. Moreso the ones that will pay thousands to attend CPAC.



The Cruelty is the point.

rejoicing in the suffering of those they hate and fear.

By Adam Serwer

[Breccia]

I see you missed the joke about a recent political campaign that called a vote against that party to be a vote against Democracy

No, we've been covering CPAC.

[Evil Midnight Bomber]

The Empire didn't think they were the bad guys either. They thought they were bringing peace to the galaxy.

And what they thought was true.