Christie received more votes than party favorites Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul
Gov. Chris Christie is the winner of a straw poll taken on possible presidential candidates at a Tea Party convention in Virginia.RICHMOND, Virgina — Gov. Chris Christie edged former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to win a presidential straw poll at a tea party gathering yesterday in Richmond, Va.
Christie, who has said he has no aspirations to run for president in 2012, finished with 15 percent of the 1,560 ballots cast at the Virginia Tea Party Patriots convention.
Palin, John McCain’s 2008 Republican vice presidential running mate, got 14.6 percent.
Despite seeing his national star power rise while traveling around the country campaigning for Republicans, Christie has insisted he does not have his eye on a 2012 run at the White House.
"I’ve made myself really clear on my position about that," he said Monday while endorsing Terry Branstad for governor of Iowa. "I’m governor of New Jersey. I’m not going to run for national office."
The two-day Virginia Tea Party Patriots convention ended yesterday with more than 2,300 registered participants. Organizers say it was the largest national tea party meeting yet.
The scorn heaped on former President George W. Bush was second only to that for Democratic President Obama.
Even Virginia’s popular Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell had to field barbed questions from some of the angry conservatives and libertarians.
"They don’t understand how committed these people are," said Kenny Golden, the former chairman of the Virginia Beach Republican Committee, who is now running for Congress as a conservative independent.
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