Unfortunately the biggest loser on the Republican side of the health care debate things is Mitt Romney. In many ways, Romney is to blame by trumpeting his deal in MA as a signature achievement of his term as Governor. During the health care debates Romney had the ability to distinguish his plan from the Federal plan by virtue of the public option. However, now that the public option has been discarded, Romney has only a very nuanced argument about Federalism to distinguish the two plans.

As Greg Sargent at theplumline puts it:

Romney’s line, in a nutshell: Imposing the individual mandate on the state level is rooted in conservative principles of individual responsibility. Imposing it on the Federal level represents a frightening government takeover that conservatives everywhere should resist.

I don’t think that’s going to work in a Republican primary with Robert Gibbs literally bear-hugging RomneyCare with statements like this:

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters Monday that the health care overhaul passed by the House Sunday night was similar to the state-based reform plan enacted in Massachusetts in 2006.

The president’s spokesman joked, unprompted: “I’m sure Gov. Romney hates every time I say that.”

The former Massachusetts governor and possible 2012 candidate called for the repeal of the federal health care bill Monday, calling it an “unconscionable abuse of power.”

But Democrats have consistently pointed to the Massachusetts plan Romney signed into law as a forerunner for national legislation. And twisting the knife further, Gibbs argued that the major difference between the two plans is that the White House proposal attempts to tackle health care costs.

“Massachusetts didn’t do that, and it took them a while to get to that curve,” Gibbs said.

h/t politico.com

Ron Paul, the 2008 Republican candidate for president won the 2010 CPAC straw poll. Ron Paul is a congressman from Texas who has run for president as both a member of the Libertarian and Republican parties.

I find it quite interesting that Paul won the straw poll given his outspoken views on military non-interventionism — that pretty much puts him in an anti-thetical position to George W. Bush and Dick Cheney (Cheney received a rousing reception at CPAC). Given Cheney is probably the most pro-interventionist foreign policy person in the previous Bush administration, this really seems like a stark turn.

Additionally, Paul Broke Mitt Romney’s streak of winning CPAC. I wonder if this had to do more with the pool of voters this year as opposed to a change in the direction of CPAC itself.

Here’s the summary of the voting:

Ron Paul 31%

Mitt Romney 22 %

Sarah Palin 7 %

Tim Pawlenty 6 %

Mike Pence 5 %

Newt Gringrich 4  %

Mike Huckabee 4 %

Update I: 2,935 votes (out of 10K+ attendees), evidently Ron Paul was booed when he was announced as the winner.