CPAC Roundup

Today is Day 2 of the 2007 Conservative Political Action Conference. Here is what bloggers have to say about the largest annual meeting of conservative grassroots activists.

Right Angle's Ivy Sellers reported that supporters of Mitt Romney, Sam Brownback and a few Condoleeza Rice fans were visible throughout the hotel. Sellers adds that White House Spokesman Tony Snow received a standing ovation. According to Right Angle's Amanda Carpenter, Duncan Hunter, a conservative longshot presidential candidate and Congressman from California, also received overwhelming laudation from the crowd.

Hotair's Eric Stakelbeck has an interesting video report from CPAC, which includes an anti-Mitt Romney protester in an hilarious "Flipper" the dolphin costume. Hot Air also spotted New York Times' MoDo (Can you talk to her without first paying for TimesSelect?)And Hotair's Allahpundit posted this youtubed attack ad that "welcomes" Rudy Giuliani to CPAC:



Robert Bluey has a summary of last night's banquet with Vice President Dick Cheney and former UN Ambassador John Bolton. (Cheney's best line was also a great shot at Al Gore: "The enemy we face in the war on terror has made Iraq the primary front in that war. To use a popular phrase, this is an inconvenient truth.") Bluey also has pictures of himself and former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell being interviewed by NRA News.

The Politio's Jonathan Martin (note to The Politico's tech team: Martin's permalinks don't work this morning.), reported there is a popular lapel sticker at CPAC with the words "Rudy McRomney" crossed through with a red line. The website, www.rudymcromney.com, is "under construction."

Michelle Malkin has pictures with her standing with Lou "The Hulk" Ferrigno and marine corporal Matt Sanchez.

Captain's Quarters' Ed Morrissey is not pleased with John McCain's decision to skip CPAC: "McCain has gone out of his way to stress his conservative credentials, especially on hot-button topics such as abortion and the war. If that's true, then what does he have to fear from a conference of conservatives predisposed to his positions? In fact, if he claims to represent conservatives, why should he fear speaking in front of a group of them? We debated this quite a bit on Blogger's Corner yesterday (which is somewhat misnamed, since we occupy a row and not a corner, but that's another story). Someone made the point that the eventual nominee needs the people in this conference to act as foot soldiers in the general election. What does it say to those foot soldiers if that nominee is too afraid to face them because he might get booed -- a slim possibility in any case? How does that nominee inspire loyalty in those he explicitly spurned out of the gate?"

Townhall.com's Matt Lewis opines that if CPAC had a theme, it came from Richard Viguerie who channeled the Blues Brothers when describing the conservative movement: "Remember the movie, “The Blues Brothers” with Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi? The idea in the movie was We’re putting the band back together and we’re on a mission from God. Well conservatives, We’re putting the conservative movement back together. And hopefully we’re on a Mission from God."

Townhall.com's Mary Katharine Ham, who badly needs a sweatshirt, takes a picture of a clever anti-McCain flyer, which suspiciously was posted on MyManMitt.com (Romney's astroturf blog?)

Boi From Troy (warning: Blog ads on this site are disgusting, so don't click the link if you're at the office.) takes a picture of Mitt Romney flip flops which are flopping around the conference.

GOPProgress.com's Liz Mair has an excellent summary of the first day at CPAC. It will be interesting to see if she is correct that Rudy will win the CPAC straw poll.