Straw polls are votes whose results are non-binding. The GOP seems to love these as indicators of something important, see the Ames straw poll. There are also a lot of GOP straw polls. Commentators like to point out that this is what the GOP wants democracy to be -- paying a fee to be able to vote. I personally think this is less true given that the GOP is no longer the exclusive party of the business elite.
Sometimes there is an entrance fee, sometimes paid for by various campaigns who want to get their supporters in the straw poll. This is usually a good way to have a money contest/good way to compare penis sizes...or whatever.
Romney recently won the CPAC straw poll which Santorum has accused Romney of paying for Romney supporters to attend. However, what likely happened behind the scenes is that Santorum is just jealous of Romney's campaign cash advantage. While I have little doubt that Romney payed for his supporters to come to CPAC, Santorum would have likely done the same had he had the money to do so. That's basically what you have to do to win these kinds of votes and now Santorum is whining on national TV about losing a vote when no one broke the rules and calling it "rigging". This is just sore loser talk.
The other point is, why are the GOP candidates caring about this seemingly useless vote. To be fair -- this is supposedly the pulse of the conservative energy/intellectualism in the country and might seem important to some people, but frankly I don't see it.
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