40,000 MSNBC.com visitors annoint Ron Paul the Republican frontrunner

This is no joke.

Libertarian Republican Congressman Ron Paul from Texas outperformed the nine other candidates at last night's Republican debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California.

Virtually unknown before the debate, Paul is viewed positively by 31% of respondents to an online poll at MSNBC.com. Mitt Romney is close behind at 30%, followed by Guiliani at 27% and then John McCain at 20%. Perhaps just as surprising, Paul is the only candidate with a higher positive than negative rating. While Romney gets a 30% positive rating, his negative rating is 36%. McCain's negatives are twice that of his positives.

Granted, this is not a poll of Republican voters. It would be interested to see these numbers grouped by respondents' party leanings.