The annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Washington
has come and gone. When I first participated in the revival of CPAC
conferences with Fritz Rench in 1973 there were about 300 participants.
This year the American Conservative Union (ACU), which sponsors the
event, reported some 1,700 paid registrants. When all participants,
including non-paying students, reporters, speakers and merchants were
clocked in, the ACU says some 6,500 folks graced their doors. That is
extraordinary. It shows that conservatives were looking for direction.
I'm not sure that they received it.
As for me, I spent the whole time (when I wasn't on a panel) interviewed
by reporters galore who wanted me to explain why Rudolph W. (Rudy)
Giuliani was popular at this bastion of conservatism when other
candidates with a far better record of conservatism were not chosen.
(Giuliani placed second in the CPAC straw poll). My answer was this,
recognizing it was off the cuff and imperfect. I told the reporters
those grassroots folks (the kind who come to CPAC and run for delegate
in their State) are looking to a candidate who can defeat Senator
Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY).
They reject Senator John S. McCain, III (R-AZ) because the perception is
that he hates religious conservatives. But those who don't care about
that have problems with him because they disapprove of McCain -
Feingold, the so-called campaign reform act which greatly hinders
conservatives from getting out their message. I have had key
conservatives tell me "I can never vote for him, period."
Then these conservative activists look at former Governor Mitt Romney of
Massachusetts. They tell me he is slick. They further tell me that they
cannot believe his answers as to why he now is pro-life. (He had been
pro-abortion until 2003 when he began to think of a Presidential race.)
He claimed that his seeing an ultrasound made him believe that life
begins at conception.
The activists looked at the second-tier candidates who were asked to
speak. They had no organization to push delegates toward the straw poll
as did the front runners. So what the attendees saw is what they got.
Former Speaker Newt Gingrich was the sentimental favorite. He still is
more interesting and creative than his rivals. The problem for his
supporters is that he has declared that if no other conservative has
caught on by September or October of this year he will determine if he
will run. In politics, that is an eternity.