Conservative Political Action Conference
CPAC, Conservative Political Action Conference, has traditionally been the largest annual gathering of conservatives, but consisting of overwhelmingly male college students. CPAC meets in Washington, D.C., in February or March, with roughly 10,000 in attendance. In 2013, it met in March 14-16. In 2014, it meets on March 6-8 at the Gaylord hotel outside D.C. in Maryland.
Students for Life is largest annual conservative conference that has balance between men and women in attendance. It sells out with its annual conference of 2000 in D.C., around the time of the [[March for Life[[. It also succeeds without the libertarian and big money dominance that increasingly plagues CPAC. But CPAC does remain a good counterweight to the neocons who dominate the Fox News Channel.
In 2010, the CPAC audience demonstrates its lack of social conservatism by ranking issues in the following importance:
- 85%: reducing government and government spending
- 10%: eliminating abortion
- 1%: stopping same-sex marriage
There was, however, virtually unanimous opposition among attendees to the policies of the Obama Administration.
Ron Paul won the straw poll among attendees for president in 2012, but Mitt Romney came in a close second. Romney won the Republican nomination for president, and then lost the general election.
Ronald Reagan Award
Each year the special Ronald Reagan Award is given to a rising star in the conservative movement, and there have been some tremendous recipients in the 1990s and 2000s. In 2010, this award went to the Tea Parties.
No-Shows
The following people did not speak at CPAC 2010:
- John McCain
- Jeb Bush
- Charlie Crist
- Sarah Palin
- Chris Christie
- Rudy Giuliani
- Sean Hannity
- Bill Kristol
External Links
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