The Maryland Republican party held its first ever straw poll at the State Fair which resulted in votes from nearly 1,000 Marylanders. All nine presidential candidates were on the ballot and Congressman Ron Paul came out the winner with 263 votes.

The poll was open to all voting age adults, regardless of party affiliation and was held for eleven days at the State Fair. Votes were cast at the Maryland Republican Party’s booth.

All campaigns were invited to have representatives at the booth, an offer that most candidates did capitalize on. Ron Paul, however, had a representative at the booth for each of the eleven days.

926 votes were cast, which was a surprising turnout for the Maryland Republican Party’s first ever straw poll.

Dr. Jim Pelura, Chairman of the Maryland Republican Party had this to say:

“When we came up with the idea of holding our first-ever presidential straw poll at the State Fair, we never expected such a large turnout. We were extremely pleased by the steady flow of people casting a vote in the straw poll, signing our petitions opposing the gas tax increase, sales tax increase, and illegal immigration, and picking up a “Don’t Blame Me…I Voted For Ehrlich” bumper sticker. We heard loud and clear that Marylanders are not happy with the direction of our state under one-party rule.”

Here are the official results:

Ron Paul - 263 (28%)
Rudy Giuliani - 220 (24%)
Fred Thompson - 188 (20%)
Mitt Romney - 89 (10%)
John McCain - 54 (6%)
Mike Huckabee - 35 (4%)
Tom Tancredo - 16 (2%)
Sam Brownback - 12 (1%)
Duncan Hunter - 3 (0%)

Write Ins:
Newt Gingrich - 17 (2%)
Bob Ehrilich - 3 (0%) (Ehrlich is former Republican Governor of MD)
Other - 11 (1%)

Spoiled ballots - 15 (2%) (e.g. voted for more than one candidate)

Total votes cast - 926

Chris Cavey, First Vice Chairman of the Maryland Republican Party, had this to say about Dr. Paul’s win:

“The final vote showing Ron Paul won is a lesson for all campaigns of how grassroots politics can make all the difference. The Paul campaign repeatedly e-mailed their base of support to turn out at the State Fair to cast a vote for Dr. Paul, and in doing so, demonstrated that a small organized operation can beat the odds.” Cavey continued, “The Maryland Republican Party’s booth at the State Fair was a huge success. By contrast, the Democrat Party’s booth was a ghost town. Where were the Democrats? They were at our booth signing our petitions opposing tax increases.”

Presidential candidate Ron Paul had a very good showing at the straw poll that will hopefully get him some momentum and much needed press coverage. Maybe his campaign is finally starting to catch on.

Apparently the ‘D’ in ‘DUI’ does not have meaning anymore. David Montalvo, 36, was arrested when he, in a responsible fashion, decided to sleep off his intoxication in the parking lot of the Market Place Deli. He was charged with DUI.

Monatlvo’s GMC pickup truck was running and in park while he was stopped at the parking lot. The reason the truck was running was because it was 25 degrees Fahrenheit that February morning and he was trying to keep warm.

Montalvo awoke at 5 am with a Hamburg Police Department patrolman standing over him. The cop claims he wanted to make sure Montalvo was okay. The officer then insisted that he take a breathalyzer test, a request that Montalvoe refused.

He was arrested and forced to make a conditional guilty plea, intending to challenge the officer in court on the grounds that his actions violated the fourth amendment.

A New Jersey appellate court upheld the decision and convicted Montalvo of Driving Under the Influence for sleeping in a parked car while intoxicated.

He now faces a ‘driver’s responsibility’ tax of $3000 and an assorted array of complimentary fines and fees that add up to at least an additional $1000.

theNewspaper.com reports:

“From the perspective of the officer on the scene, I don’t find at all that what he was doing was unreasonable,” Superior Court Judge Thomas Critchley Jr. said in his rejection of Montalvo’s argument. “In fact, I find it would have been unreasonable to have stopped his inquiries at any point short of what he did.”

The appellate court agreed that the officer was acting reasonably to render assistance to someone who may have been in distress.

“The officer wanted to make sure the driver was ‘okay,’ nothing was wrong with the businesses and that the truck was operating properly,” the appellate decision concluded. “We are convinced that under the facts as observed by Officer Aaronson defendant was lawfully subject to limited inquiry based upon an objectively reasonable exercise of the officer’s community caretaking function.”

Lesson learned. If you are intoxicated do not sleep in your car. Either drive home or find somewhere else to sleep. Sleeping Under the Influence charges can be pretty expensive.

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