SEASIDE, Ore. — Mitt Romney notched another Northwest victory Sunday, winning the straw poll conducted by Oregon Republicans at their annual Dorchester Conference.
Romney received 52 percent of the event’s vote, followed by Rick Santorum with 26 percent. Newt Gingrich received 14 percent, and Ron Paul 6 percent, The Oregonian reported.
Romney also won Washington state’s presidential caucus straw poll on Saturday.
About 400 people participated in Sunday’s vote, with the results capping a three-day conference that saw Oregon’s most prominent Republicans mingling with longtime party supporters.
Republicans hold just one of seven Oregon seats in Congress and half of one chamber in the state Legislature, but that didn’t stop them from talking tough nationally and at the state level, the newspaper reported.
U.S. Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., delivered Saturday’s pre-lunch speech with a battle cry to defeat President Barack Obama and Democrats in general this fall. Walden is the deputy chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee.
“This is the guy who said 60 days wasn’t long enough to figure out the Keystone pipeline, and then took 26 to say no,” Walden said, referring to a proposed oil project pushed hard by Republicans. “We’re going to take him out as President of the United States.”
Republicans this weekend also voted 2-1 to reject a proposal to cap state spending and divert some tax kicker money into a savings fund. They also voted to reject a call for the U.S. Department of Defense to reduce spending, again by a 2-to-1 margin.
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