Romney wins, Huckabee in 2nd  —  Ames, Ia.  — Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney emerged on top at Iowa GOP's straw poll Saturday in Ames.  —  The win boosted the former Massachusetts governor's standing as the party's frontrunner in Iowa, although attendance at this first show …

Straw Poll Results Delayed Due To Voting Machine Malfunction  —  AMES — The announcement of tonight's straw poll results has been delayed due to what one informed source says was a voting machine malfunction.  About 4,500 ballots had to be re-run.  We are waiting....

Analysis: Huckabee's 2nd-Place 'Win' in Ames  —  AMES, Iowa — The biggest political event of the 2007 calendar year gave former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney a victory, but the biggest winner may well be former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who placed a surprising second.

Help Me Uncle Sam!  —  I'm on quasi vacation in the upper left-hand corner of the country (or at least the upper left hand corner of the lower 48, a distinction I offer in deference to my Alaskan relatives who surround me in abundance).  I haven't followed the Iowa straw poll closely …

Straw Poll Expectations Setting  —  AMES, Iowa — It's finally here.  —  The Fix drove 45 minutes north from Des Moines this morning through land dominated by corn fields to arrive in this college town that, for today at least, is at the center of the political universe.  —  The atmosphere is like a carnival.

Huckabee!  —  Ames results are as follows:  —  Mitt Romney 4516 votes (31.0%)  —  Mike Huckabee 2587 votes (18.1%)  —  Sam Brownback 2192 votes (15.3%)  —  Tom Tancredo 1961 votes (13.7%).  —  Ron Paul with 1305 votes (9.1%)  —  Tommy Thompson 1,009 votes (7.3%)  —  Fred Thompson 231 votes (1.6%)

Romney wins Iowa GOP straw poll  —  AMES, Iowa (CNN) — Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney won the Iowa Republican straw poll Saturday, giving his campaign a boost six months before the state holds its first-in-the-nation caucuses.  —  Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee came in second, followed by Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback.

AMES: A Low Turnout: About 14,000  —  Campaign officials estimate that around 14,000 Iowans cast straw ballots today.  That's about sixty percent of the 23,500 who voted in 1999.  So, turnout is clearly low.  But that's not surprising, given that three major candidates refused to attend.

RESULTS FROM AMES  —  So, how'd things turn out in the Ames Straw Poll?  The final tally was delayed after a voting-machine error (insert sly joke here), but here are the results, by way of IowaPolitics.com:  —  1. Mitt Romney  —  2. Mike Huckabee  —  3. Sam Brownback  —  4. Tom Tancredo

Ron Paul's wife hospitalized in Iowa  —  DES MOINES, Iowa — Rep. Ron Paul's wife was hospitalized Saturday morning, the Texas Republican's presidential campaign announced shortly before voting was to begin in the Ames GOP straw poll.  —  "Carol experienced an irregular heartbeat early this morning …