HOPKINTON — Former White House aide Patrick Buchanan yesterday won a Presidential straw poll of conservative Granite Staters attending a Fourth of July picnic, providing a show of grassroots support.
"This is a tremendous turnout of New Hampshire conservatives," Buchanan said after an afternoon of shish kebabs, potato salad and speeches at the Hopkinton State Fairgrounds.
Buchanan's victory, rumored for days, should give his campaign at least a momentary boost.
"The winner of this will have demonstrated good tactical capacity," former state Sen. Jim Rubens, R-Etna, said.
Buchanan, who won the Republican New Hampshire Primary in 1996, garnered 646 votes, or about 58 percent of the 1,123 people marking ballots yesterday. Former Reagan aide Gary Bauer finished second with 235 votes, followed by U.S. Sen. Bob Smith, R-N.H., with 104 votes.
Anyone with a ticket received a ballot. Each campaign was allowed to purchase up to 75 tickets. Buchanan supporters also bought blocs of tickets, giving them to campaign workers to distribute free to supporters, according to Tim Haley, Buchanan's national political director.
"You never know if they're going to show up," Buchanan said after the results.
The Buchanan and Bauer campaigns worked hard to get out supporters while most other campaigns gave a token effort at best. Both the Buchanan and Bauer camps had lists of voters they checked when people entered the fairgrounds.
"It forces you to organize," Haley said. "It is sort of a mini-primary or mini-caucus. It makes you deliver votes."
Haley said polls done by professional firms may be scientific, but "these are real people. You have real bodies willing to come out for us."
Others put less stock in the straw poll.
"We don't think July 4, 1999, in terms of straw polls means a lot vis-à-vis (primary day) Feb. 8, 2000," said Bruce Berke, state director for GOP candidate John Kasich, R-Ohio.
The campaign of businessman Steve Forbes made a "calculated decision" to skip the soldout straw poll when there weren't sufficient tickets left to purchase to make a respectable showing, said one Forbes aide, who didn't want to be identified.
On a day when shade from trees protected most people attending, three Presidential candidates spoke to the crowd, which was mixed with small children wearing the hat or sticker of their parent's favorite candidate.
GOP front-runner George W. Bush was in New Hampshire, but didn't attend the event. He received 15 votes.
The speakers couldn't resist mention of Bush's stratospheric standing in the polls and in collecting campaign donations.
"We're not into coronations up here. We're into revolutions up here," Buchanan told the crowd.
Bauer said Bush will need more than a big bankroll to win the Republican nomination.
"Mr. Bush, you're going to have to fight for it, and you're going to need a lot more than $39 million," Bauer said.
Bauer tied Bush to Vice President Al Gore, who is seeking the Democratic Presidential nomination.
"We got to have more of a choice than Gore-Bush," Bauer said, pointing out both of those candidates support most favored nation status for China and won't do anything to stop legalized abortions.
Smith, who plans to decide within the next two weeks whether to run as a third-party candidate, said the United States overthrew King George of England during the Revolutionary War.
"And now there's another guy named George, and we're going to overthrow him too," Smith said.
Although a nonpartisan event, both the crowd and the speakers were clearly Republican. The results also reflected that. Gore received no votes. Gore's Democratic challenger, former U.S. Sen. Bill Bradley, D-N.J., got two votes.
Other results were:
Former Ambassador Alan Keyes, 74; former Vice President Dan Quayle, 16; Kasich, nine; Forbes, eight; U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., six; former Tennessee Gov. Lamar Alexander, four; former American Red Cross President Elizabeth Dole, three; and U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, zero.
The Coalition of New Hampshire Taxpayers, formed by a former majority of directors of the Granite State Taxpayers, hosted the Presidential 2000 Primary Cookout.
Fourteen groups co-sponsored the event, from the John Birch Society (Lakes Region chapter) to the Christian Coalition.
Weare residents Linda and Bill McDougall attended to support Buchanan.
"This is where you hear the true vote in the beginning," Bill McDougall said of the straw poll.
When it was pointed out that Buchanan supporters bought up a large share of the tickets, Mr. McDougall asked: "Couldn't (Bush) have bought up tickets or anybody else?"
