Ron Paul Wins New Straw Poll
PHILLIPS: Now back to the Values Voter Convention, a gathering of social conservatives in Washington. We have been waiting for those results of the Republican presidential straw poll. I told you just moments ago they're in, and CNN political producer Peter Hamby is standing by. So what do we know, Peter?</s>PETER HAMBY, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Well, the big winner, as he often is at these straw polls, is Ron Paul, who had a commanding win. He picked up 37 percent of the vote. There are about 3,000 participants here at the Values Voter Summit, which is a big gathering of social conservatives, religious conservatives. The Ron Paul supporters are very dedicated. They often kind of get their people out to these straw polls, you know, to do a good showing. So take a look at who else finished well. Herman Cain continues to surge. He's doing well in the polls right now. He gave a rousing speech here yesterday, Kyra. He came in second with 23 percent. And I'm reading the results from my BlackBerry here. Rick Santorum, a fierce social conservative, staunch opponent of abortion, also gave a pretty powerful speech here, came in third place with 16 percent. And the two national frontrunners, Rick Perry and Mitt Romney, finished farther down the line, Kyra.</s>PHILLIPS: And we'll get to them. I'm looking at the same thing, I guess, that you just got. We'll look at the choices for VP, but those who were surveyed, can you describe them?</s>HAMBY: Yes. There's a lot of folks here from all over the country, you know, who are involved, you know, in - in church groups locally. This is put on by the Family Research Council, a big social conservative group run by Tony Perkins, so there's a lot of religious conservatives, social conservatives. Again, that's why you saw somebody like Rick Santorum and Herman Cain do pretty well here. Mitt Romney finished at only four percent in the straw poll. He's the national frontrunner, but he's never really endeared himself to this crowd, and that was kind of reflected in the straw poll results. But, you know, behind me there's all kinds of booths, you know, focusing on issues like abortion, same-sex marriage, creationism, that sort of thing. So that's - that's the kind of crowd that showed up here today, Kyra.</s>PHILLIPS: And shall we give the top four finishers here as the choices for VP?</s>HAMBY: Sure. They did survey who would be the best number two. They didn't give us hard numbers, but the top finishers were Michele Bachmann, Rick Santorum, Herman Cain and Marco Rubio, who is the consensus number one draft pick, if you will, for - for Republicans because he is a Latino, he's articulate, he can raise money, he's conservative. He said that he wouldn't seek the VP nod, but, you know, when the presidential nominee comes calling next year, we'll see if he changes his mind. But Rick - Rubio is popular across the board among social conservatives, establishment conservatives, foreign policy conservatives. So he's a popular pick here, Kyra.</s>PHILLIPS: All right. And Ron Paul winning that new straw poll. Peter Hamby, thank you so much. All right, Jacqui Jeras, what's happening around the country weather- wise?</s>JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: A lot of rain, Kyra. Oh my gosh, it is a washout of a day in parts of the country that actually really need it, across parts of Texas, and then Florida getting hit very hard as well. We'll zoom in here and show you the state of Florida that's just been getting pounded, Melbourne in particular right now. They had five inches of rain in the ground since yesterday, and it's still coming down, and it's still coming down hard. We've got an area of low pressure here that's trying to develop, and the Hurricane Center says there's a small chance that this could become a tropical or a subtropical system. But either way you slice it, it's certainly spelled a huge rainmaker, a big wind maker as well. We could see gusts as much as 50 miles per hour throughout the weekend, and this is going to be a real slow mover, it's going to be real slow to organize and eventually make its way on up towards the north and to the east. How much rainfall are we talking about on top of what you already had? Well, this computer model forecast showing you over the next 48 hours, so this gets into Monday. We could see as much as four to six inches just on the coast. So you can really see where the heaviest of this is expected to be, moving on up towards Georgia, and then on up into the Carolinas. In fact, throughout the week we could see this whole thing make its way on up towards the East Coast. Rainfall amounts in addition are going to be very heavy. We'll see those gusts, we'll see rip currents as well, and some really big waves. Not a good day to get out on the sailboat or any kind of boat out in the ocean there where we could see eight to 10 footers as well. I want to take you over to Texas now, where the drought-ridden state is finally getting some relief here. This is not a drought buster, however it is going to put a nice dent in here. Taking a look at midland Texas, for example, they have had 2.22 inches of rainfall in the last year. Yes, a year. Well, you could double that number just in the next 24 hours. So flood watches have been posted here. The ground is very dry, so a lot of this runs off very quickly instead of getting absorbed into the ground, so that's a bit of concern as well. This is due to a stationary front that's kind of parked in the nation's midsection, so this is going to continue to be the focus of wet weather through the weekend, even into the Columbus Day as well. It's also what's responsible for bringing that snow into the Rockies. Believe it or not, Kyra, I'm hearing some ski resorts have opened up in - for the weekend because they've seen that much snow. But just - just for the weekend.</s>PHILLIPS: All right.</s>JERAS: It's going to melt off pretty quick.</s>PHILLIPS: Here we go, though. Pretty soon we're going to be talking about all the record numbers of snowfall.</s>JERAS: Oh, yes.</s>PHILLIPS: Thanks, Jacqui. Well, Chaz Bono has brought the transgender community into the spotlight, and for many people it's been their lifestyle for years. Now one person offered this advice.</s>WILSON: At some point in time you're going to come across somebody that is transgender, gay or lesbian. If you don't understand, ask that person. We're normal people, too.</s>PHILLIPS: Going from southern jock and military man to single female, next in the NEWSROOM.