Fox News Skews Iowa Straw Poll

Why would Fox News screw up something so basic as reporting the facts of the results of the Iowa Straw Poll? Why would they mislead everyone as to the full outcome based on the current field of candidates.

In other words, why did they purposefully ignore the showing of Ron Paul? He's a crank in my book, but Fox had a duty to include his showing in the Iowa Straw Poll. They mentioned everyone else, but not Paul. Here's the Fox Story in full:

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney won an easy and expected victory in a high-profile Iowa Republican Party Straw Poll on Saturday, claiming nearly twice as many votes as his nearest rival.

Romney had been expected to win the test because he spent millions of dollars and months of effort on an event that was skipped by two of his major rivals.

Romney scored 4,516 votes to outpace former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee who had 2,587 votes. Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback was third with 2,192 votes.

Announcement of the results was delayed for 90 minutes because a hand count was required on one of the 18 machines.

The biggest loser of the evening likely was former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson, who finished in 6th place with 1,039 votes. He had said repeatedly that if he didn't finish in the top two his campaign was likely to end. He left the event before the results were announced, and there was no announcement from his campaign.

The missing big names got only a handful of votes.

Former Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee got 203 votes. He was on the ballot, although not an officially declared candidate.

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani received 183 votes and Sen. John McCain of Arizona got 101.

Romney claimed the prize he had spent so much effort to win.

"The people of this great state have sent a message to the rest of the country," said Romney. "Change starts in Iowa."

Huckabee said his showing was impressive because he had little money to spend.

"You have taken a minimum amount of resources and made a maximum amount of gain," Huckabee told backers.

The Boston Globe nearly follows the Fox report but notes the rest of the field not considered to have much of a chance. It picks up where Fox left off.

Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo has made illegal immigration his signature issue, and scored a fourth place showing with 1,961 voltes, while Texas Rep. Ron Paul, who has developed an Internet-driven following, came in fifth with 1,305 votes.

Filling out the field, Rep. Duncan Hunter got 174 votes, while Chicago businessman John Cox got 41 votes.

The Iowa Straw Poll may help flagging candidacies, but it will have little effect on the front runners. What will have more of an effect is the jockeying among the various states to see who can jump to the head of the line in the primary season. We're lurching towards a 2007 start to the primaries, given the rate at which states are trying to beat out Iowa and New Hampshire, which have historically led the way in primary season.