The Week

Susan Sarandon will play Cindy Sheehan in a biopic. Could they just mail her the Oscar now?

We hesitate to read too much into the presidential straw poll at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference in Memphis-but since everyone else is, this is how we see it: Bill Frist won with 36 percent, but in his home state that showing was merely adequate. Mitt Romney got good buzz from his 14 percent second-place finish, but his supporters paid for Romney voters to come to the event (and weren’t particularly straight about it with reporters). John McCain urged his supporters to vote for President Bush as a sign of solidarity. As a long-term strategy, it makes sense for McCain to hug Bush as tightly as possible. As a tactic in Memphis, however, this feint might have been as much about trying to mask front-running McCain’s still less-than-commanding position among GOP activists. Sen. George Allen, who has to win reelection in Virginia this year, didn’t attempt to organize at the event and finished with a so-so 10 percent. It’s all very interesting-but, needless to say, it’s also very, very early.

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Presidential Election

Susan Sarandon will play Cindy Sheehan in a biopic. Could they just mail her the Oscar now?

We hesitate to read too much into the presidential straw poll at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference in Memphis-but since everyone else is, this is how we see it: Bill Frist won with 36 percent, but in his home state that showing was merely adequate. Mitt Romney got good buzz from his 14 percent second-place finish, but his supporters paid for Romney voters to come to the event (and weren’t particularly straight about it with reporters). John McCain urged his supporters to vote for President Bush as a sign of solidarity. As a long-term strategy, it makes sense for McCain to hug Bush as tightly as possible. As a tactic in Memphis, however, this feint might have been as much about trying to mask front-running McCain’s still less-than-commanding position among GOP activists. Sen. George Allen, who has to win reelection in Virginia this year, didn’t attempt to organize at the event and finished with a so-so 10 percent. It’s all very interesting-but, needless to say, it’s also very, very early.