Updated at 5:40 p.m. ET

Rep. Ron Paul won the presidential straw poll at the Conservative Political Action Conference, finishing ahead of former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney for the second year in a row.

The Texas congressman, a libertarian-thinking Republican, earned an ardent following in the 2008 GOP presidential primaries that were ultimately won by Arizona Sen. John McCain.

Paul garnered 30% of the vote, with Romney getting 23%. The next closest finishers -- New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and former New Mexico governor Gary Johnson -- got 6%.

Thousands of conservative GOP activists wrapped up their annual Washington gathering, which featured speeches from a host of Republicans in various stages of presidential campaign preparations. From Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., to Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., each presidential hopeful took aim at President Obama and his handling of the economy, foreign policy and a host of other issues.

Straw polls don't often match up with results of presidential primaries, but they do take the political temperature of those who participate -- in this case, about 3,700 of the 11,000 GOP conservatives who attended the conference. David Keene, the outgoing chairman of the American Conservative Union, which organizes CPAC, said the straw poll "tells us what conservative activists are thinking about ... including the people they look to as leaders."

The No. 1 issue for conservatives, according to the poll results, is the size and role of government.

Ralph Reed, a veteran GOP strategist with the Faith & Freedom Coalition, said the CPAC straw poll could take on more importance this year "because this is the most wide-open nominating field since at least 1964."

Ten of the 15 Republicans on CPAC's straw poll ballot addressed the conference. Sarah Palin and Mike Huckabee, who have high name recognition among GOP voters, did not attend but were on the straw poll ballot.

Even though the former Alaska governor was not at CPAC, Palin and her political intentions for 2012 set off a buzz throughout the three-day event. The Associated Press confirmed on Saturday that Palin hired Michael Glassner, a longtime GOP political operative and former aide to Bob Dole, to run her political action committee.

USA TODAY's coverage of CPAC can be found here in the On Politics blog.

(Contributing: Chuck Raasch, Gannett Washington Bureau)