Right-Wing Extremists Choose Favorites

Each year the most extreme right-wingers in America hold a conference. It's put on by the Conservative Political Action Committee (CPAC). As the conference winds up, it traditional to have a straw poll on who the attendees think should be the next Republican presidential nominee. The results of this year's straw poll are pictured in the graph above.

This year's big winners were Rand Paul (25%) and Marco Rubio (23%). That's no surprise, since both are right-wing extremists and were expected to do well in the poll. The surprise is that conservative moderate, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, finished fourth with 7% of the votes. Christie was considered too moderate by CPAC organizers and wasn't invited to speak at the convention -- while the other possible candidates were able to speak to the conference.

Of course the race for the nomination is still a long way off, but this gives us a good idea of where the party's extremists stand (and they'll have a pretty big say in who the nominee will be -- especially in Texas, Oklahoma, and the Southern states).