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Well last week it became official that the Duncan Hunter campaign\’s consulting firm had hired blogger John Hawkins to help increase Hunters web presence and online support. John is a good guy and will do well in that role. But today, he has an assistant, as that same consulting firm has picked up Michael \”A.J. Sparxx\” Illions from PoliPundit. Yet another good move which will serve the campaign well.

And it appears as if Duncan Hunter may be gaining a little ground, at least amongst online activists, of which many are also \”real-world\” activists. GOPUSA did a poll recently on who has the best chance to get the 2008 nomination. The results were a little surprising, and despite it not being a scientific poll, are very encouraging.

Newt Gingrich – 19%
Duncan Hunter 16%
Rudy Giuliani – 12%
Mitt Romney – 10%
Other – 10%
Tom Tancredo – 9%
Sam Brownback – 7%
John McCain – 6%
Condi Rice – 5%
Mike Huckabee – 1%
George Pataki – 0%
Bill Frist – 0%
Chuck Hagel – 0%

Now those results are interesting for a variety of reasons, most of which spell hope for the Duncan Hunter campaign. Now most obviously is that he scored above most other candidates, losing only to a candidate that even I would be tempted to vote for despite his personal baggage.

Also, if you go to the forums discussing the poll, you\’ll find that many people who did not vote for him did so because even though they really like him, they are afraid of him not getting the name recognition in time and generally being shunned by the national party. What I can draw from that is that the support for Duncan Hunter is actually much stronger, but people are worried about name recognition and trying to be realistic. However, if they would stop worrying and just push for the guy they like, he might have that name recognition now.

And if one looks at how other candidates did, there is yet more good news. Despite the fact that I\’m a fan of Tancredo, when you declare that you\’re gonna bomb Mecca, you are not a viable Presidential option, for diplomatic reasons if nothing else. So you take Tancredos fans, who is likely to be their second choice??? Well if you are voting for Tancredo, you\’re doing it because of the immigration issue. In that case, your second choice would be the only other candidate that is against amnesty for illegals, Duncan Hunter. If even half of Tancredos supporters voted for Hunter it would put him above even Newt Gingrich.

Overall, the poll says alot. First of all, none of the candidates scored over 20%. Secondly, Condi (who isn\’t running) got 5%, Newt (who hasn\’t announced) got 19% and Other got 10%, which is really surprising because I don\’t see any candidate who isn\’t already included. What this says to me is alot of people are keeping an open mind and haven\’t definitely decided. So in other words, the nomination is not yet decided folks!!

From that, one could conclude that none of the front-runners are exactly getting people excited. I would venture to guess that if either Newt officially entered the race, or failing that, if Duncan Hunter got serious name recognition, we would see a new front-runner.

This poll also tells me that online activists are still sticking to their ideals, and not just rolling over for whatever candidate is ahead and therefore they \”have\” to vote for. That is a good thing and I hope it spreads. Since our next president will likely face a Democratic Congress, we can\’t afford to vote in a squish.

Let\’s hope we see more good news for the Duncan Hunter campaign as things continue.