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The 2007 Iowa Straw Poll was won by former [[Massachusetts]] Governor [[Mitt Romney]]. Conservative [[Mike Huckabee]], the former [[Arkansas]] governor, placed second in the straw poll of over fourteen thousand Iowa voters. In 1999 the first and second -place finishers at the Iowa Straw Poll went on to receive over 70% of the vote in the [[Iowa Caucuses]].<ref>http://www.todaysthv.com/news/news.aspx?storyid=50794</ref>

The 2007 Iowa straw poll was on held August 11 and consisted of Republican primary candidates [[Mitt Romney]], [[Mike Huckabee]], [[Tom Tancredo]], [[John Cox]], [[Ron Paul]], [[Duncan Hunter]], [[Tommy Thompson]] and [[Sam Brownback]].<ref>http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070625/NEWS/70625033/1001</ref> Presidential primary candidates [[John McCain]] and [[Rudy Giuliani]] decided not to participate in the straw poll<ref>http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/2007-06-06-iowa-straw-poll_N.htm</ref> allegedly because of time and resources constraints. Organizers expected a crowd of 40,000 Iowa Republicans at the 2007 straw poll but estimates showed a sharp decline from the 1999 straw poll with just 14,000 Iowans casting straw ballots, compared to 23,500 voters in the 1999 straw poll.<ref>http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/</ref> Conservative talk show host [[Laura Ingraham]] served as Master of Ceremonies.<ref>http://www.iowagop.net/downloads/Straw.Poll.Info.pdf</ref>

Some [[Republican]] primary candidates stated that they would not remain in the primary race unless they had a good showing at the straw poll. [[Mike Huckabee]], who finished second, before said he would reconsider his race if he did not get in the top half of the straw poll finishers. Tommy Thompson stated he would step down from the race if he did not finish in the top two straw poll spots, one day after finishing sixth he withdrew.<ref>http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,293012,00.html</ref>The three House members competing, Representatives [[Duncan Hunter]] of [[California]], [[Ron Paul]] of [[Texas]] and [[Tom Tancredo]] of [[Colorado]], vowed to stay in the race regardless of their placement in the straw poll.<ref>http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=ap55FE7Ol9O8&refer=us</ref>

[[Mitt Romney]], who held a significant lead in the Iowa polls as well as a large amount of funds, came into the straw poll with a huge advantage.<ref>http://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/2007/08/group_attacks_r.html</ref> Because McCain and Giuliani did not attend the straw poll, Romney was predicted to easily win. In an effort to gain support from [[Iowa]] [[conservative]]s, [[Sam Brownback]] campaigned heavily against Romney's past stance on [[abortion]] and alleged that fellow Republican candidate, Tom Tancredo, gave money to a "founder of a [[Planned Parenthood]] network" in a negative advertisement days before the straw poll.<ref>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/video/2007/07/26/VI2007072601105.html</ref><ref>http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2007/07/26/brownbacks_robocallsh<!-- bad word? -->it_romney.html</ref>

The Tancredo campaign stated that they do not share values with all their funders and that Tancredo's voting record shows he is clearly pro-life. Former [[Arkansas]] Governor, [[Mike Huckabee]], stated that while he believed Romney's current beliefs on abortion, electing Romney would lead to accusations of a "flip-flop", which he says could lead to a Republican loss in the presidential race.<ref>http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2007/08/posttalk_huckabees_tough_talk.html</ref>

Most candidates offered free straw poll tickets to supporters, with exception of [[Duncan Hunter]]. The Tancredo, Romney and Brownback campaigns used numerous buses to get supporters to the straw poll but<ref>http://race42008.com/category/tom-tancredo/</ref> former [[Arkansas]] Governor Mike Huckabee's campaign provided no transportation.

After an hour of delay due to a voting machine malfunction, which led to the recount of over 1,500 ballots,<ref>http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2007/08/ames_a_partial_recount_confirm.php</ref> Mitt Romney won the 2007 Ames straw poll, receiving 4516 votes, or 31%. Former conservative governor [[Mike Huckabee]], whose poll numbers had been steadily rising around the nation, finished second with 2587 votes at 18.1%.<ref>http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/</ref>

Huckabee's second -place finish was somewhat of a surprise to political analysts because of his lack of funds and transportation to the straw poll as well as a late start in Iowa. Huckabee ended up spending the equivalent of $58 for vote, a small fraction of what Romney ($442.87 to $1,000 per a voter) and Brownback ($148.27 for each voter) spent.<ref>http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=MDhhNTUxODM5NjIyMjhjNGMwN2Q5MGRlMzNhZGJhODE=</ref><ref>http://blogs.usatoday.com/onpolitics/2007/08/straw-poll-fall.html</ref> [[Image:MikeHuckabeeIowaStrawPoll.JPG‎|thumb|240px|[[Mike Huckabee]], speaking in this photo at the Iowa Straw Poll, finished in second place with 18.1% of the vote]]He said after the victory, “We had two fish and five loaves and it fed 5,000.” Although Romney won the event at great cost, many political analysts believed that Huckabee's strong second -place finish made him the biggest winner at the straw poll.<ref>http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2007/08/ames_straw_poll_what_it_means.html</ref>

|[[Mitt Romney]]

|[[Mike Huckabee]]

|[[Mitt Romney]]|Placed second in the Republican [[Iowa Caucus]]'s with 25% of the vote. With 34% of the vote, [[Mike Huckabee]] took first place.

|Bob Dole went on to win the Republican primary after tying for first place in the [[Iowa Caucus]].