Local Republicans Pick Mitt Romney -- For Now

The roller coaster known as the Republican presidential primary played out on a local scale Wednesday night.

The Cuyahoga Valley Republicans, a grassroots organization for northeast Ohio conservatives, has been conducting straw polls at its meetings to gauge its members’ interest in the different presidential hopefuls. The polls have seen candidates rise and fall out of favor, said member Al Bota—much like they have at the national level. 

During last night’s meeting at the , the majority of members present put their support behind Mitt Romney. 

Here’s how the 110 votes broke down:

• About 45 percent went to Romney.
• 29 percent went to Rick Santorum.
• 21 percent supported Newt Gingrich.
• And only 5 percent were in favor of Ron Paul.

Only one member put down a write-in candidate, something that stood out to Bota, the chairman of the candidate screening committee. At the beginning of the race, Bota said he saw a lot of write-ins during the straw polls, with members casting votes for politicians who weren’t running, like Sarah Palin. That’s fallen off now as the candidate list has solidified and narrowed down.

“Either they’re happy with what we have, or they’re resigned with what we have,” Bota said.

But nothing’s official yet.  said the group would be asked if they want to officially endorse one of the candidates in February.

Bota gave a brief presentation on each remaining candidate, pointing out some of his positives and negatives. 

“They all leave us desiring more,” he said at the end. But the audience agreed that they’d support the candidate who wins the nomination in order to try to get a Republican back in the White House. 

The group will also discuss the 2012 “freedom agenda” next month. The goals for the year include expanding the group’s urban base and reaching young voters.