Huckabee Surges in Iowa State Fair Poll

It seems that Mike Huckabee was racking up the kernels in the Channel 13 poll at the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines over the last week.

First, consider this week-old news piece from the morning of the Ames straw poll:

The corn vote shows Mitt Romney in a runaway.

Romney led the rest of Republican presidential field by 400 kernels in this remarkably unscientific poll at the Iowa State Fair on Friday: Fairgoers dropped corn in jars in support of their favored candidate.

Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor, was not among the top three, and did not merit a mention on the tote board.

Huckabee is banking on a far better showing today at the Iowa Straw Poll in Ames.

But yesterday, USNews.com reported that Huckabee has since turned things around in a big way:

Mike Huckabee has been taking a victory lap since coming in a surprising second at last Saturday's GOP Iowa presidential straw poll, and now he's got another poll to crow about: At Channel 13's popular booth at the Iowa State Fair, the former Arkansas governor has surged into second place in the all-important corn Kernel Poll, knocking former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson out of the top three.

The official count over at Iowa Votes 2008 has Romney with 36 percent of the 13,275 kernels cast and Huckabee with 17 percent, besting third place Guiliani and fourth place Thompson by 400 and 500 votes respectively.

Of course, does a kernel count at the Iowa State Fair really mean anything? The surge certainly does, as it shows a noticeable upward wave of support following Huckabee's strong showing in Ames. Plus, consider the following from US News:

The kernel poll works this way: Poll voters 18 or older are offered a corn kernel, which they drop into the glass Mason jar designated for their preferred candidate.

Does the thing mean anything? Well, in its maiden voyage last year, the kernel poll accurately predicted that Chet Culver would be elected governor, the station's Jarrett Schneider tells our Liz Halloran.

Considered beside statistical analysis like this, I think you can only say that this corn kernel poll means good things for Mike.