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Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS) scored a decisive victory in a straw poll of Republicans attending the St. Louis County Lincoln Day dinner on Saturday, March 10. Brownback received 46 of the 131 ballots cast, for 35.1 percent of the vote. Rudy Giuliani came in second with 23 votes (17.5%), while Mitt Romney finished third with 18 votes, or 13.7%.

Brownback’s performance in the poll was undoubtedly bolstered by the fact that he was the dinner’s keynote speaker. Still, the results — particularly Giuliani’s strong showing — may come as a surprise to the state’s party leaders. Gov. Matt Blunt has been an early, and vocal, supporter of Romney, and the former Massachusetts governor was invited to deliver the keynote address at the statewide Lincoln Days celebration held in February. Earlier this month, a longtime Blunt consultant told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that Romney “appears to have Missouri locked down, as far as I can tell.”

The complete results follow:

Rudy Giuliani: 23 votes (17.6%)

John McCain: 5 votes (3.8%)

Mitt Romney: 18 votes (13.7%)

Sam Brownback: 46 votes (35.1%)

Mike Huckabee: 9 votes (6.9%)

Tom Tancredo: 3 votes (2.3%)

Duncan Hunter: 7 votes (5.3%)

Undecided: 14 votes (10.7%)

Other: 6 votes (4.6%)

Like all straw polls, this one was unscientific. It was sponsored by Survey Saint Louis, LLC, a local polling and voter contact firm. The results were provided exclusively to this site.

Note to non-Missourians: To keep up with Republican and Democratic presidential candidates’ visits to Missouri, visit johncombest.com.

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Yesterday, I linked to a U.S. News & World Report article on Hillary Clinton, the highlight of which was an implied endorsement from Claire McCaskill, among others.

It turns out that the USN&WR reporter got it wrong, and the magazine updated the online version of the article immediately. The corrected version of the article is here.

McCaskill says she is not endorsing any candidate because she has to work with many of them. According to McCaskill spokeswoman Adrianne Marsh, “She would prefer that the candidates come to Missouri to win the hearts and minds of our voters.”

Meanwhile, I imagine that an enterprising reporter snooping around Saturday’s St. Louis County Lincoln Day dinner will find out which GOP presidential candidates are recruiting top talent and are about to set up shop in Missouri.

Republicans, Democrats, and the media will each be represented at the St. Louis Area Young Republicans meeting tonight. Dave Drebes of the Arch City Chronicle and Jo Mannies of the Post-Dispatch will join me in a discussion of the Internet and the impact of political blogs.

The meeting begins at 7:30 p.m. and will be held at the St. Louis County Library Headquarters at 1640 S. Lindbergh Road.

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Pictures from Missouri Lincoln Days are now up at molincolndays.com.

It’s safe to assume that the overwhelming majority of the photos were taken by Lydia Hasekamp.

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