It’s pretty incredible when GOP presidential candidate Rand Paul wins a straw poll and the media acts as though Carly Fiorina, a statist in her own right, was the winner.

CNN headlined their story about Mackinac Island over the weekend, “Fiorina takes Mackinac Island by Storm.” However, the reality is that she came in second behind Rand Paul.

CNN reported:

Mackinac Island, Michigan (CNN) Carly Fiorina barely made it off the ferry dock at Mackinac Island.

She was greeted by hundreds of supporters at the Michigan Republican Leadership Conference who roared a welcome as she arrived, holding bright red “Carly” signs and chanting her name.

The crowd blocked the exit off the ferry dock, nearly crushing Fiorina and her team as they tried to make their way down the street.

And the greeting was just a preview for the rest of Saturday afternoon and evening for the Republican presidential field’s fastest-rising star.

They slowed her way to the campaign’s first stop, an event for Republican women leaders at a local bistro. When she finally made it through the crowd to the front of the event for a few remarks, she could barely get through them without encouragement from her supporters.

Fiorina is a media darling because, well, let’s be honest, she is one of them. She has praised Hillary Clinton as a “great candidate,” said that government workers must obey government’s commands no matter how unlawful or immoral, oversaw deals with Iran during her time as CEO of Hewlett Packard, but denies knowing anything about them, and referenced the Islamic Ottoman Empire as the “greatest” civilization in the world. She even financially invested in a website the supported Planned Parenthood! She is not a friend to America.

But what of Rand Paul? Michigan Live reports:

Rand Paul won the presidential preference straw poll this weekend at the Mackinac Republican Leadership Conference, a biennial gather of more than 2,000 Michigan Republicans.

With 785 attendees voting, the U.S. Senator from Kentucky received 22 percent of the vote in the MIRS/Detroit News straw poll. Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina finished second at 15 percent.

Each of the top five vote-getters spoke at the island event, including Ohio Gov. John Kasich (13.7 percent), Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas (13 percent) and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (9.7 percent).

Here’s the final results:

1. Rand Paul, 22%, 174 votes
   
2. Carly Fiorina, 15%, 118 votes
   
3. John Kasich, 13.7%, 108 votes
   
4. Ted Cruz, 13%, 102 votes
   
5. Jeb Bush, 9.7%, 76 votes
   
6. Marco Rubio, 8.4%, 66 votes
   
7. Donald Trump, 6.75%, 53 votes
   
8. Ben Carson, 5.5%, 43 votes
   
9. Scott Walker, 2.5%, 20 votes
   
10. Mike Huckabee, 0.76%, 6 votes
    
11. Other/write-in, 0.76%, 6 votes
    
12. Chris Christie, 0.38%, 3 votes
    
13. Bobby Jindal, 0.38%, 3 votes
    
14. Rick Santorum, 0.38%, 3 votes
    
15. Lindsey Graham, 0.25%, 2 votes
    
16. Jim Gilmore, 0.13%, 1 vote
    
17. George Pataki, 0.13%, 1 vote
    

“We must be boldly for conservative principles like balancing the budget, restraining the powers of the federal government, and passing term limits to get rid of the career politicians in both parties,” Paul said.

“I will continue to be a leader on these issues in the hopes of defeating the Washington Machine and unleashing the American Dream,” he added.

“This is an organization test that indicates that (Paul) will over-perform in other organizational contests such as Iowa, Nevada, Minnesota and other caucus states that come before the March 8 Michigan primary,” said John Yob, Paul’s national political director and a Grand Rapids-based GOP consultant.

This kind of media reporting is similar to that which Paul’s father, Ron Paul, faced in the 2012 primaries. Does anyone remember this?