None of the Above

Here’s the way I figure this math, from the Iowa Straw Poll.

They had 24,000 voters in 1999.
They wanted 20,000 voters today.
They got 14,000.

That says, presumably, the Iowa Republican Party wrote off 4,000 votes because Giuliani and McCain pulled out and Thompson’s not in yet (24,000 minues 20,000).

But that still leaves 6,000 people (20,000 minus 14,000) they expected–and didn’t get. I’m going to count 5,000 of those 6,000 as votes for "None of the Above" with the rest going to Obama. Even if we gave those 1,000 to Obama (6% of the total would have given him 1,440), that still says that "None of the Above," with 5,000 votes, still out-polled Romney, who spent millions, 5,000 to 4,516. I know this is all funny math. But still, I do think this counts as a win for "None of the Above."

And here’s the best part. This is supposed to be a fundraiser for Iowa’s Republican party–straw poll tickets cost $35 apiece. Which means Iowa’s Republican party just made $350,000 less than it made in 1999 of this thing.