Ron Paul wins Nevada GOP presidential straw poll!

SPARKS, Nev. - October 14, 2007 - Ron Paul won the GOP presidential straw poll conducted by organizers at the Conservative Leadership Conference held at the Nugget Casino this weekend “by a large margin,” according to an organizer.

Paul won with 32 percent, McCain came in second with 17 percent, Hunter was third with 15 percent, and "Romney was in the lower numbers because people came out for his event but they just didn't vote for him," according to organizer and McCain operative Paul Jackson.

Although many of the Republican presidential teams had surrogates representing them at the conference, Mitt Romney and Duncan Hunter were the only candidates to speak at the conference, and the victor himself was not there.