Ron Paul First News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Perry who is trailing from behind. these are the people that social conservatives are probably going to break to at the end of the day, particularly someone like rick perry, but it is striking to me that you end up having ron paul first, then herman cain second. that's a striking finding. >> mark murray, thank you. >> thank you. michele bachmann's win in august at the ames straw poll, it seems like a long time ago. rick perry, herman cain leaped forward in the polls. there are whispers on the campaign trail about money issues in the bachmann camp. the question now for some is can she even ma...

Having someone like ron paul win who is a strict libertarian, who doesn't believe the government should have any roll for almost anything, that's probably the reason the organizers are a little ticked. >> but if they dismiss the winner of their own poll, doesn't that discount the validity of the straw poll itself? >> a little bit. it is important to note that straw polls, sometimes you take them with a grain of salt. the actual voting is not going to begin until january or february. those are the contests that count. we have seen ron paul time and time again, no matter the venue, do well. reme...

Their values. ron paul won with a third of the vote. herman cain, rick santorum round out the top three. joining me to make sense of this, mark murray. mark, here is the fascinating thing about the poll. the organization that conducted the summit has already started to cast doubts on the results. tony perkins told cnn today, quote, i don't think ron paul is truly reflective of where value voters stand. why no love for ron paul? >> i think the no love factor comes in that ron paul and his folks really know how to work the straw polls. remember, he finished that very close second to michele bach...

The next two years but does long-term -- >> it is amazing spend really isn't coming up with obama. maybe he isn't in as strong a position if he would. maybe believes in these wars at this point. i've come to feel stephen carter in his new book talks about how obama is really prosecuting these wars with more ferocity at this point than george w. bush. he's done the surge in afghanistan. he has really shown himself to be something of a hawk when it comes to the wars. >> how depressing, ron paul. it seems that there is no difference between republicans and democrats when it comes to these wars. i...

Ron, it is always good to talk to you. >> thank you. good to be with you. >> we've got news nbc news/"wall street journal" poll numbers that show that barack obama's numbers have gone up a good bit. i'm wondering, is it possible that he could use this popularity to strike a deal to actually bring down the debt? >> it's always possible. you know, politicians are politicians, and when the handwriting's on the wall, sometimes they change their ways. so it seems like he is bending in that direction. but, you know, the job is overwhelming. to really cut spending is not going to be easy for anybody....