Ron Paul for President, says Conservative Political Action Conference poll

Sorry, Sarah, it's Ron Paul in a sweep!

Conservatives want the Texas congressman as their next President.

Paul was preferred by 31% of voters in the Conservative Political Action Conference's presidential preference straw poll yesterday, one of the strongest wins in CPAC history.

Sarah Palin, who skipped the group's conference, came in a distant third with 7% of the vote.

Paul ran for President in 2008 but didn't come close to claiming the GOP's nomination.

Mitt Romney, after topping CPAC's poll for the past three years, came in second, with 22% of the 2400 votes cast.

Paul's resistance to government spending resonated this year.

"Congressman Paul is committed to bringing the conservative movement back to its traditional platform of limited government, balanced budgets and a foreign policy of nonintervention," said Paul spokesman Jesse Benton.