County GOP like Walker for governor, Sarah Palin in 2012

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Kenosha News, Kenosha, WI

By Joe Potente

Published: 08/25/2009

Kenosha County Republicans appear to favor Scott Walker for governor next year, and they like Sarah Palin for president in 2012.

That’s the word, anyway, from an unscientific straw poll that the county GOP organization took over the course of five days last week at the Kenosha County Fair.

Party Chairwoman Kathy Carpenter said the party collected 205 ballots at its Commercial Building booth. Carpenter said she is certain it was a reasonably accurate sample, as party volunteers kept a close eye out for ballot box stuffers.

Walker, the Milwaukee County executive, took 74.5 percent of the 2010 Republican primary preference vote, trouncing former U.S. Rep. Mark Neumann.

Neumann, who carried just 24.5 percent of the vote, represented Kenosha County during his 1995-99 stint in Congress.

Carpenter said she was somewhat surprised Neumann fared so badly in his former home district. She chalked it up to unfounded rumors about Neumann’s involvement in his brother’s residential development firm, which went bankrupt in 2007.

“I think Strawberry Creek (a Neumann Homes development) is like a noose around his neck right now,” Carpenter said Monday. “And whether he was involved or not, it doesn’t matter. Perception is more than reality.”

Walker, Carpenter noted, has spent some time campaigning in the Kenosha area. He was a candidate for governor in 2006, but dropped out of the GOP primary race after failing to pose a formidable fund-raising challenge to the eventual nominee, Mark Green.

For the 2012 presidential primary, 52 percent of County Fair straw poll voters selected 2008 vice presidential nominee Palin as their preferred candidate.

That was no surprise to Carpenter, who said she believes the former Alaska governor is appealing to the conservative crowd in Kenosha County.

“They tend to be a little bit more of just the regular folks,” Carpenter said. “And she’s so popular with the regular folks. She makes sense to many of them.”

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee finished second, with 18 percent, and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney followed with 16 percent. Both were presidential primary candidates in 2008.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, out of elected office since 1999, rounded out the field of straw poll candidates with 12 percent of the vote.

The poll also asked voters about hypothetical matches between Republicans and Democrats in the governor’s race. Carpenter conceded, however, that the results — slanted heavily toward Republicans — were skewed by the type of fairgoer who would be likely to approach a GOP booth.

Carpenter said the party has staged similar polls in the past. She said organizers decided to do so this year, while the 2010 primary remains truly up for grabs.

“There’s definitely battles out there and opponents,” Carpenter said. “We thought we’d throw it out there and do it.”

View original story here.