Weeding 'em out in Iowa -- Updated

Update:Congratulations to Mike Huckabee on his 2nd place finish. I know he put a lot of stock in this one to gauge his candidacy, and it paid off. Here are the results of the 14,302 ballots cast:

1 Mitt Romney, 4,516 votes, 31.6 percent
2 Mike Huckabee, 2,587 votes, 18.1 percent
3 Sam Brownback, 2,192 votes, 15.3 percent
4 Tom Tancredo, 1,961 votes, 13.7 percent
5 Ron Paul, 1,305 votes, 9.1 percent
6 Tommy Thompson, 1,039 votes, 7.3 percent
7 Fred Thompson, 203 votes, 1.4 percent
8 Rudy Guiliani, 183 votes, 1.3 percent
9 Duncan Hunter, 174 votes, 1.2 percent
10 John McCain - 101 votes, 0.7 percent
11 John Cox- 41 votes, 0.1 percent

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Here are a few articles and columns on today's straw poll taking place in Ames. Mike Huckabee, like most other Republican candidates taking part in the poll, spent yesterday campaigning at the Iowa State Fair. Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney is the clear favorite, and while Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback has been polling second, there is a fierce fight to finish in the runner-up spot. I'm off to Hope here in a few minutes for the watermelon festival and will check in later this afternoon. No sign of my luggage, by the way, which contains my wallet and most of my other belongings. Update (1:40 p.m.): My luggage showed up on the 10:30 flight into Little Rock this morning. I just returned from Hope, but I'm headed back out the door to meet the delivery guy in Arkadelphia.

DeMoines Register: Straw poll likely to prune weaker GOP contenders
Ames Tribune: Scrambling for straws
New York Times: In case you're not in Iowa...
Stephens Media (DC Bureau): Huckabee stumps at state fair
John Brummett: Momentary momentum for Huckabee?

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