As the Republican primary campaign comes down the home stretch, three candidates for the nomination to the Sixth Congressional District made a pitch Saturday to party faithful for their support.

But when the votes were counted in the Jefferson County GOP Straw Poll at the Trussville Civic Center, it was the candidate who wasn’t there — incumbent Rep. Spencer Bachus — who came out on top.

Bachus received 143 of the 286 votes cast in the straw poll, edging out State Sen. Scott Beason of Gardendale by 23 votes. Al Mickle of Alabaster was third with 13 votes, and Blount County Probate Judge and Commission President David Standridge was fourth with 10.

The poll was a fund-raiser for the county party organization, and voters paid $25 for a ballot and lunch.

Beason claimed that Bachus — who has done very little face-to-face campaigning in his district, but has run quite a bit of television and radio advertising — bought the victory by paying people to come to the event.

“I know they brought a lot of people in. Several people bought multiple, multiple tickets, and a lot of college kids came in,” Beason said immediately after the results were announced. “I met some of them and they seemed very happy to meet me. I’m not sure if they knew what they were being brought in for.”

Standridge wasn’t surprised at the straw poll outcome.

“I didn’t really actively participate. I went there just to meet people, but I decided not to actively bring supporters there,” said Standridge, who left after a brief speech to go back to campaign events.

Beason and Standridge are facing a large disadvantage in terms of campaign money. Bachus, who is chairman of the House Financial Services Committee came into the election season with $1.08 million in his war chest, much of it from contributions from political action committees related to the banking and finance sector. The watchdog website OpenSecrets.org analyzed data from Bachus’ latest filings with the Federal Election Commission, and found that more than half the contributions Bachus’ campaign committee received in the past year came from PACs. Of those, the majority were associated with firms in banking and finance.

By contrast, Beason has raised only $54,300 as of Feb. 27, and Standridge about $33,000. Standridge personally loaned his campaign committee $8,000.

Both Beason and Standridge may benefit from ad spending locally by a Texas-based “super PAC” called the Campaign for Primary Accountability. The organization typically targets vulnerable incumbents in Republican primaries. Their radio and TV ads began last week.

The primary, which also features two Democrats in that party’s first contested Sixth District primary since Bachus was elected in 1992, will be held next Tuesday. It’s also the GOP presidential primary as well.

Should no candidate get more than 50 percent of the vote, a runoff election between the top two candidates will be held April 24.