An excited crowd of about 250 loyal North Dakota Republicans spent their Friday night socializing, drinking and crowning Mitt Romney the winner of the state GOP's first straw poll.

The former Massachusetts governor carried 29 percent of the vote, while former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani came in second with 22 percent, former senator and "Law and Order" actor Fred Thompson was third with 21 percent, and Sen. John McCain was fourth with 14 percent.

The event, held at the Doublewood Inn, brought national representatives from the Romney and Thompson campaigns. A national representative from the Giuliani campaign intended to come, but his plane was delayed.

All are seeking the Republican nomination for president in 2008 and figuring North Dakota's Feb. 5 caucuses as a piece of a winning strategy.

"If you have the opportunity to do well in an early (primary/caucus) state, you'd be foolish not to try," said Thompson's representative, senior advisor Rich Galen.

Tagg Romney, son of the former Massachusetts governor and consulting company executive, said the Romney campaign was committed to doing well here, and he hoped that would continue.

Heavily attended by Republican state officials and officeholders, the event was held in a plain, low-ceilinged ballroom and catered on white tablecloths.

Representatives for each candidate were given 10 minutes to speak before the official voting took place. Each talked up their candidate's conservative credentials, leadership and ability to beat the Democrats in 2008.

Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem represented McCain and Public Service Commissioner Kevin Cramer represented Giuliani. Crystal Dueker of Fargo represented a campaign to draft Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, even though the secretary is not in the race and not affiliated with the group.

One interesting similarity between the campaigns was that each mentioned Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton by name, touting their candidate as the best one to beat her and warning of the negative repercussions of a Hillary Clinton presidency.

Jamie Selzler, executive director of the North Dakota Democratic Party, said the ubiquitous mention of Hillary Clinton is a sign of fear.

"I think they're afraid of Hillary Clinton because she is more popular than a lot of Republicans give her credit for," Selzler said.

Selzler said the Democratic field was full of "a lot of strong candidates," but that he doesn't yet have a sense of who's going to do well in North Dakota.

The event gave a lot of local Republicans the chance to mull their favorite candidates a little more than four months from the primary date.

State Sen. Dick Dever, R-Bismarck, could be seen trolling the crowd with both Fred Thompson and Mitt Romney stickers on his suit jacket lapel, but said his heart really belonged to former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.

"I think the values that are important to him are the values that are important to many North Dakotans," Dever said.

Also mulling their choices were college students Michael Little and Zack Tiggelaar, who drove from the University of North Dakota to their hometown of Bismarck for the event.

Little, 20, who chairs UND's college Republicans, said he was for Romney because he's taken online polls that show his views are most closely aligned with the former Massachusetts governor's.

"Every stance I stood for was what Mitt Romney believed, and I liked what I saw," he said.

Tiggelaar, 19, said he like Rudy Giuliani because of his ability to manage a large budget - like the one in New York City - in a fiscally conservative manner.

"I really like the tax cut part of his agenda," he said.

(Reach reporter Jonathan Rivoli at 223-8482 or jonathan.rivoli@bismarcktribune.com.)