Ashcroft Bests 20 in GOP Straw Vote

Sen. John Ashcroft of Missouri won a straw vote for the 2000 Republican presidential nomination by delegates to South Carolina’s GOP convention. Ashcroft drew 256 votes in the balloting among 20 potential candidates in Columbia. Texas Gov. George W. Bush was runner-up with 115 votes. Alan Keyes, a talk show host and former ambassador, received 83 votes; former Vice President Dan Quayle got 72 votes and Elizabeth Hanford Dole won 48. Ashcroft spoke to the 1,600 delegates about what Republicans must do to win back the White House. Keyes and Jack Kemp, Bob Dole’s vice presidential candidate in 1996, also attended the event. No Republican presidential hopeful since 1980 has won the nomination without winning the South Carolina primary.