Call it the 'Beer Barrel Poll-ka'

DES MOINES -- There are polls, and then there are polls, and the Court Avenue Restaurant & Brewing Company here has commissioned its own survey of the whims of its patrons. Zogby and Rasmussen need not fear -- the only thing scientific about this is the beer-making process.

From 4 p.m. to midnight on Mondays, the brewpub hands out a wooden token to each customer who comes in, and the tokens are cast as votes. As of last Monday, the brewpub poll was just as tight as the conventional polls -- though Bill Richardson would much rather have these results than the real surveys, where he is mired in the single digits.

For the Democrats, Barack Obama, with 33.5%, was slightly ahead of Richardson at 33.3%, followed by Hillary Clinton at 17.1% and John Edwards at 16.2%.

On the Republican side, Rudy Giuliani leads with 43.8% over Fred Thompson at 37.6% and Mitt Romney at 18.6%. Romney's numbers could be weighted by religion -- Mormons don't drink. But there was no explanation of why John McCain, Mike Huckabee and Ron Paul's names weren't available for beer-voting.

And near as we can tell, the bar is not a caucus site.

-- Scott Martelle

Comments

[Diana]

"But there was no explanation of why John McCain, Mike Huckabee and Ron Paul's names weren't available for beer-voting."

I'd say this is an improvement. What bothers me more than the fact that Ron Paul is referred to as a "second-tier" "can't win" candidate, despite his amazing fundraising success and popular support, is the fact that John McCain is lumped in with all the "front runner" even though his campaign is bankrupt and all the polls show he's not doing well.

Now, why they included Fred Thompson, with his single digit polling, I cannot imagine.

[David Buchanan]

According to the most recent polls, Richardson is at !4-15% and moving up. But the Court Avenue Beer Poll makes sense - Bill Richardson is the only one of the candidates with whom t I would like to have a beer (except maybe Mike Gravel!)

Keep your options open as you watch for the January Surprise.