There's apparently some unwritten rule that members of the media are forbidden to talk about Rep. Ron Paul -- at least in the eyes of Jon Stewart -- but according to our readers, Paul is most likely to win next month's "Presidency 5" straw poll in Orlando, garnering more than 33 percent of the votes cast.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry came in second place in our highly unscientific poll with nearly 26 percent, and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romeny came in third with just over 23 percent, although he's said he won't be participating in the event.
Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman came in fourth place in our poll with a little under 8 percent of the votes cast, and the rest of the candidates -- or possible candidates -- came in with less than 4 percent of the vote:
The "Presidency 5" straw poll will be preceded by a debate televised by Fox News, and the process may work in Paul's favor since Rep. Michele Bachmann and Romney have said they aren't participating in the event, and Perry hasn't committed.
The poll hasn't been held in more than a decade, but it's an odd choice for candidates to skip out on it, since the "Presidency 5" straw poll has correctly decided the eventual GOP nominee in each of the three times it was held (1979, 1987, and 1995), and each winner of the straw poll won the primary in Florida in those years as well.
As we've mentioned earlier, the "Presidency 5" poll is a bit different than the recent Ames straw poll in that it relies a bit less on candidates eating deep-fried butter on a stick, and more on how they handle the debate.
The 3,500 delegate who will have the opportunity to vote in the poll are pre-selected, and unlike previous years, Sunshine State News reports that the Republican Party of Florida plans to put major candidates who aren't participating in the debate -- like Romney and Bachmann -- on the ballot.
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