Jonathan Martin has details of how Romney bought another straw poll, this time the Family Research Council's Values Voter straw poll.

Among actual attendees of the FRC's Values Voter conference/summit, Mike Huckabee took a stunning 51% of the vote. But, because the FRC allowed online voting among people who contributed as little as $1 to the FRC, Romney won overall.

Today, I had occasion to speak to a couple of swing voters, independents who could go either way next year. They pointed to Romney's interest in "astroturfing" as opposed to grassroots, buying victories and slick manipulation of the system-- not to mention the fact that with his flip-flopping, he now looks about as trustworthy and consistent as Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde-- as a key reason why they will in no circumstances vote for him.

Obviously, I hear similar comments from actual Republicans a lot, too, with a number of those I know, ranging from moderate to very conservative, saying they will either sit 2008 out, or vote for and/or donate to Hillary, should it be a Romney-Hillary matchup.

I know I have a reputation as a Romney basher (and it is deserved)-- and consequently, me pointing out the little things like the rigging of straw polls and the impact they're having on people's perceptions of Mitt will be dismissed by his supporters as not credible, or nonsense. But believe me, the "Anybody But Mitt" contingent in the American electorate seems to be growing by the day. And someone on Romney's team would do well to take note, and tell him to stop the hijinks.

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Wow. This is a severe kick in the pants for Romney.

Jeb Bush, Jr. isn't as important a figure in Florida politics as his dad (the actual former governor and brother of the President). But still, he's a pretty big name, and the endorsement does suggest that Romney hasn't quite captured the imagination of Jeb Bush's immediate family as he presumably had hoped to do. From Team Giuliani:

The Rudy Giuliani Presidential Campaign today announced the endorsement of Jeb Bush Jr. Bush joins the Giuliani campaign as Chairman of Florida Young Professionals for Rudy.

“As someone who grew up around politics and candidates, I know that Rudy has the leadership qualities and unmatched experience to be the next President of the United States. I’m honored to join his campaign and look forward to working with the many young professionals throughout Florida supporting the Mayor,” Bush said.

Bush’s activities with the campaign will focus on building grassroots support in South Florida and the recruitment of young professionals across the state.

Readers will remember that earlier this year, Romney fell out with Jeb Bush after going on a rampage bashing comprehensive immigration reform. His actions didn't sit well with the former Governor, whose wife hails from Mexico, and who evidently has a less hawkish position on immigration than that which Romney has been trying to project.

Although Jeb Bush, Jr.'s statement doesn't allude to that falling out being connected to his decision to back Rudy, my guess is that it has something to do with it. My gut tells me that if your mother comes from Mexico, you're going to be uncomfortable with a guy who projects an image that looks, on the face of it, anti-hispanic immigration, and certainly not favorable to the idea of a lot of Mexican immigrants to the United States being able to legalize themselves and fully integrate with American society.

Of course, the fact that Rudy has shown a...

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Well, this should help tighten up the debates:

Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS) will drop out of the 2008 presidential race tomorrow, the AP reports.

"Brownback, a long-shot conservative contender, had trouble raising money to compete in the race. He is expected announce his withdrawal in Topeka, Kan."

It also isn't much of a surprise. Those tracking the presidential race have noticed that Brownback has sunk and sunk in the last few months. There's been plenty of urging among conservative bloggers that he focus on defending his Senate seat, and quit toying with the notion of being president.

From my perspective, while I've often directed plenty of vitriol at Brownback, this is a sad thing for him personally, but a good thing overall, both for national politics, generally, and from the perspective of advancing good policy. Brownback has a number of good ideas on economic and fiscal items that I'd like to see him focusing on, and it's incredibly tough to try to move such policies in the Senate while running a presidential campaign. With his withdrawal from the race, fiscal and economic conservatives should stand a better chance of seeing him advance those proposals and bring those pet issues back into the spotlight.

Of course, we may also see more of him in Washington, banging on about abortion and gay marriage, too, but I'll put up with that if he's prepared to get back to work on tax reform and the like, which is critically important, especially with this Congress.

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