Another year, another victory for a Paul.
Sen. Rand Paul won the CPAC presidential preference straw poll for the third time in a row, with Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker staking a claim to the frontrunner status he currently enjoys after a month that saw him surge in the polls.
Paul raked in a touch over 25 percent of the vote from the more than 3,000 conservative activists who attended the conference in National Harbor, Md. Walker was the only other candidate to touch 20 percent, pulling in 21 percent of the vote.
Paul continues to follow in the footsteps of this father, former Rep. Ron Paul, who won the straw poll in 2010 and 2011.
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz fell to third place from his second place finish in last year’s straw poll, with retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson coming in fourth. Both polled in just north of 11 percent.
Notably, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, a presumed frontrunner, finished in fifth with only 8 percent support. Bush, whose name was booed roundly by the conservative crowd multiple times this weekend, appeared at the conference on Friday, drawing a standing-room-only audience after Bush’s supporters bussed in supporters from Washington to cheer him on.
Rounding out the vote were former Sen. Rick Santorum (4 percent), Sen. Marco Rubio (3), Donald Trump (3), Carly Fiorina (3), Gov. Chris Christie (2) and former Gov. Rick Perry (1). A cadre of other potential candidates, including former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, although she has shown next to no inclination to run, polled at less than a single percentage point.