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Washington • Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., took the top spot for the third year in a row at Saturday's Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) straw poll, edging out Gov. Scott Walker, R-Wis.
Paul had been the prohibitive favorite heading into this year's balloting, which featured 17 candidates. More than 3,000 attendees voted, a 20 percent increase over turnout in 2014.
Hundreds of Paul fans had streamed in from across the country for the multiday event in National Harbor, Md., but his percentage of the vote dropped, to 25.7 percent, from 31 percent in 2014.
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush had made a major effort to do well, sponsoring buses to ferry in supporters and paying entry fees for some who came — a push that brought him a fifth-place showing.
Walker, who drew a significant level of grass-roots excitement at the conference with a strong performance in his Friday address, drew 21.4 percent of the vote, a significant improvement on his fifth-place showing last year. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who finished second to Paul in 2014, drew 11.5 percent of the vote, roughly the same as he had in 2014. Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson came in fourth place.