Mitt Romney wins Iowa Republican straw poll

AMES, Iowa, Aug 12 (Reuters) Republican Mitt Romney won the first test of strength in the 2008 White House race, beating a field of lesser-known rivals in an informal straw poll in Iowa.

Romney won 31 per cent of the votes cast in the nonbinding Republican mock election, with former Arkansas Gov Mike Huckabee finishing second with 18 per cent of the 14,302 votes cast -- well short of the nearly 24,000 votes cast in 1999.

The poll result, a Republican tradition in the state that leads off the nominating race for the November 2008 election, could begin to thin the herd of candidates and give at least temporary momentum to Romney.

Romney was a heavy favorite after the other top three national Republican candidates -- former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Arizona Sen. John McCain and former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson -- skipped the poll to save money.

In their absence a half-dozen lesser-known candidates battled for the chance to finish second and perhaps vault into contention, and Huckabee won that contest with a strong appeal to Iowa's large bloc of social conservatives.

Kansas Sen Sam Brownback finished third with 15 per cent and Colorado Rep Tom Tancredo finished fourth with 13.7 per cent.

The results were delayed more than an hour after officials had to recount about 1,500 ballots on one malfunctioning machine, a party spokeswoman said.

REUTERS SBA RAI0726