[Preechr]

It's a poll, so it must be valid. That's what they taught Kevin in school. Lots of Southerners in Minnesota. Yep.

Newt Gingrich Wins 2008 Straw Poll

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who engineered the Republican takeover of Congress a dozen years ago, got a boost tonight from Minnesota conservatives who want him to run for president in 2008.

Gingrich was the top vote-getter in a straw poll of G-O-P activists at the state party convention.

But the vote is at best a limited reflection of Republican sentiment in the state - the ranks of the 12-hundred-plus delegates had thinned down considerably by the time the poll was taken, and 540 valid votes were cast.

That was about ten hours into the second day of the convention, hours after the day's marquee event - the endorsement of Governor Pawlenty.

Gingrich got 210 votes in the straw poll, or almost 39 percent. That's more than twice as many as Senator George Allen of Virginia, who came in second.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was third, followed by Arizona Senator John McCain, Florida Governor Jeb Bush and Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney.

© 2006 Associated Press.