My money on the next President has always been on Rand Paul ever since, more than a year ago, I saw a hall of intemperate lefty students at Berkeley rise to applaud his speech on You Tube.  I’ve yet to find any agreement from political expert friends, though they’ve tossed me much scorn for my naivete, so I am more convinced than ever.  Paul’s particular brand of fiscal conservatism and social liberalism, allied to non Beltway credentials, always seemed to me to be the Next Big Thing.  Certainly the under 30s seem to agree and if he can pull in some minorities as well he could trounce Hillary.  (A former editor of a major US national told me privately last summer that Hillary will never survive the email mess as within the Beltway there was much more dirt on her to come out).  I strongly recommend listening to Rand’s views on You Tube…from auditing the Fed to sensible foreign policy he is a breath of fresh air.  Eye doctors have vision and appeal whereas community organizers and intellectuals seem out of touch.

So I was interested to see Republicans Overseas post this result.  Of course, it means precisely nothing, as it is “overseas” and it is partisan.  But when it comes to the caucuses and primaries, almost anything can happen if someone gets the wind behind them and the US election system in its final stages and Trump phenom are both badly understood in the literal minded UK media….in the UK there is a very different electoral system and set of understandings.

Let’s see….what odds now? I see one web site has Rand Paul at 250 to 1, same as Carly Fiorina, who has NO CHANCE.  THAT IS GOOD ODDS, GENTLEMEN

Like Hillary, I am declaring early.

The votes have been tallied.

The first international Republicans Overseas straw poll is finished. Voters from 64 countries told us who they want to they want to be President. The results are as follows:

Candidate	Percentage of Total
Rand Paul	34.43%
Macro Rubio	27.58%
Donald Trump	14.15%
Ted Cruz	7.30%
Jeb Bush	6.85%
John Kasich	3.56%
Carly Fiorina	2.40%
Chris Christie	1.69%
Ben Carson	1.16%
Mike Huckabee	0.53%
Rick Santorum	0.18%
Jim Gilmore	0.18%

David Fuller's view

Thanks for a very interesting, feisty email.  I am fascinated by the Republicans Overseas straw poll, while also accepting your view that it means almost nothing.