Rand Paul Wins CPAC Straw Poll
JAY PHAROAH, CAST MEMBER, NBC'S "SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE": Well, good evening, my fellow Americans. As of tonight Russian forces still occupy the Crimea Peninsula inside Ukraine, and Crimean lawmakers have begun steps to secede. And in these past few days, I've heard so many questions from the American people. Questions like, "Is this the first step towards war?" "What can the United States do?" And "Hold up, what's Crimea?"</s>JOHNS: Good question, right? Ukraine is no laughing matter for the real President Obama. He took a break from his Florida vacation to reach out to world leaders on Saturday morning. He called French President Francois Hollande and the prime ministers of both Italy and Britain, as well as other European leaders.</s>BROWN: The president was looking for support to trying to de- escalate the crisis in Crimea. Mr. Obama and several heads of state agreed Russia should exit Ukraine and that Ukraine sovereignty should be restored.</s>JOHNS: We'll have more on the crisis in Ukraine coming up in just a bit, including what could be Russia's next move. And we'll talk with a Russian TV anchor to get an insider's perspective.</s>BROWN: Meantime in other news this morning, Senator Rand Paul took home the honors for the second year in a row. The Tea Party darling finished first in the CPAC straw poll yesterday, crushing second-place finisher Senator Ted Cruz. CNN national political reporter Peter Hamby was at the event. So Peter, tell us about Paul's win.</s>PETER HAMBY, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER: Joe, Pamela, Kentucky Senator Rand Paul had a blowout win here in the CPAC presidential straw poll. This is a test of conservative activists about who they want to be their Republican standard-bearer in 2016. Paul won a full 30 percent of the votes here, and Ted Cruz, the second place finisher, only got 11 percent, a distant second. He was followed in third place by Ben Carson, a conservative neurosurgeon, a regular on the conservative speaking circuit who's really popular with grassroots activists. Surprisingly, in fourth place, outperforming expectations, was New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. Now Rand's win here shouldn't be viewed as a real predictor of who's going to be the Republican presidential nominee, but it is a good snapshot of how a slice of the conservative base feels about the potential field of candidates. And this event was dominated by libertarians and young people. They really have rallied to Rand Paul in recent years. A full half of CPAC's straw poll voters were between the ages of 18 and 25. Rand Paul rode the wave after a really big speech here to a big victory in the CPAC straw poll, just like he did last year -- Joe, Pamela.</s>BROWN: Peter Hamby, thank you very much for that.</s>JOHNS: Still to come here on NEW DAY, never mind his recent slumps and injuries. Tiger Woods set the Cadillac Championship on fire this weekend, but can he win it all today?.