WASHINGTON (BP)—Republican presidential candidates Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney both were able to claim victory in straw poll results at a meeting of social conservatives Oct. 19-21.

Votes cast at the Values Voter Summit gave Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor, an overwhelming advantage of 488 votes, or 51.3 percent, to Romney's 99 votes (10.4 percent). The combination of onsite ballots with Internet and mail votes gave Romney an edge, however. Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, won by 30 votes in overall balloting, 1,595 (27.6 percent) to Huckabee's 1,565 (27.2 percent).

The poll was conducted during the meeting, which was held at a Washington hotel and sponsored by the political action arms of Family Research Council and Focus on the Family as well as other conservative organizations. Votes cast online and via mail over a two-month period were added to those recorded by meeting attendees to provide the results in the overall straw poll.

The poll clearly showed Huckabee, a former Southern Baptist pastor, was the favorite of the 950-plus people who voted at the meeting, which was made up largely of evangelical Christians. Meanwhile, the online and mail balloting from nearly 5,800 voters may have demonstrated primarily the significance to and organization of the Romney campaign.

Texas Congressman Ron Paul also benefited greatly from the offsite component of the poll. He finished ninth in the onsite results with only 25 votes, but he was third in the overall balloting with 865 votes (15 percent).

The onsite results for the Republican candidates were: Huckabee, 488 votes (51.3 percent); Romney, 99 votes (10.4 percent); Thompson, 77 votes (8.1 percent); Tom Tancredo, 65 votes (6.8 percent); Giuliani, 60 votes (6.3 percent); Duncan Hunter, 54 votes (5.7 percent); John McCain, 30 votes (3.2 percent); Sam Brownback, 26 votes (2.7 percent), and Paul, 25 votes (2.6 percent).

The Democrat Party candidates also were listed on the ballots. Barack Obama, the U.S. senator from Illinois, received the most votes, with nine in the overall poll and five onsite.

None of the Democratic candidates appeared at the summit.

Other cosponsors of the meeting were the Alliance Defense Fund, American Family Association Action, American Values and High Impact Leadership Coalition.

Erica Simons, a senior at Southeastern University in Lakeland, is attending the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities' Washington Journalism Center this semester and serving as an intern with Baptist Press.