Arapahoe County Republicans rang in the holiday season Tuesday night at the Cherry Creek Marina and Yacht Club, overlooking the cozy event center’s namesake reservoir.

More than 200 merrymakers swapped stories, imbibed in a fancy buffet and quite a few worked the crowd ahead of a bevy of contested primaries, marveling that the process gets under way with precinct caucuses in a scant two months.

Arapahoe Republicans had plenty of opinions regarding a poll released earlier in the day showing Newt Gingrich pulling ahead of Mitt Romney by a two-to-one lead among likely Colorado Republican voters. Even though the Public Policy Polling survey pegged Gingrich with a whopping 19-point lead over Romney, who won the Colorado caucuses in 2008, revelers at the Christmas party weren’t buying it.

“Those aren’t the Republicans who are going to caucus,” said one Arapahoe resident, sweeping her hands to indicate her fellow Republicans and neighbors. “These are.”

To test that point, Republicans eagerly cast ballots in the night’s presidential straw poll. By no means a scientific survey — party-goers could buy as many ballots as they wanted, “just like they do it in Chicago,” cracked one of the straw poll’s organizers — the results nonetheless reinforced Romney’s strength among GOP stalwarts.

When it came time to announce the winner, a number of Arapahoe GOPers festooned in Romney stickers gathered ‘round to hear the news. The former U.S. House speaker — whose recent ascension left more than a few at the party to wonder whether the country had slipped into a time warp — trailed Romney 201-75, with the rest of the pack only registering in single digits. A cheer went up — at this party, at least, Gingrich had failed to steal Christmas.

— Ernest@coloradostatesman.com