Conservative activists from across the country spent the first day of the annual CPAC convention discussing policy, blasting the Obama administration and plotting a return to power in November.The three-day Conservative Political Action Conference features speeches from national political leaders, potential 2012 Republican presidential candidates, 2010 candidates, and the likes of conservative Hollywood-types such as actor Stephen Baldwin.
Opening day speakers included Florida Senate candidate Marco Rubio, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, anti-tax advocate Grover Norquist and Liz Cheney.
Former Vice President Dick Cheney surprised attendees and joined his daughter on stage to thunderous applause.
"A welcome like that's almost enough to make me want to run for office again," he said. "But I'm not going to do it."
Cheney said the developments he has seen in the Republican Party over the past several months are "enormously encouraging."
"I think 2010 is going to be a phenomenal year for the conservative cause, and I think Barack Obama is a one-term president," he said.
Rubio kicked off the conference with a standing ovation and laid out why he, not Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, is a better choice for the GOP nomination this year.
"We are witnessing the single greatest political pushback in American history," Rubio said to cheers. He added: "2010 is a referendum on the very identity of our nation."
Rubio said that Americans "are looking for leaders who will offer a clear alternative" to Democrats, and he rattled off a litany of standard conservative proposals that anchor his campaign -- lowering taxes, helping small business create jobs and showing no mercy to terrorists.
Rubio was introduced by one of his most prominent supporters, South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint, who bucked many of his fellow Republicans on Capitol Hill last year to endorse Rubio instead of Crist.
"I would rather have 30 Marco Rubios in the Senate than 60 Arlen Specters," DeMint said
Rubio's campaign sought to maximize on his appearance before the conservative activists by placing a fundraising and volunteer form on every seat in the ballroom.
Throughout the day, the unifying political call to arms from the speakers was the same: do not abandon your conservative principles.
In addition to serious talks about the conservative platform, the speakers didn't miss an opportunity to jab Obama.
"You probably didn't hear the news this morning, late breaking, that the gold medal that was won last night by American Lindsey Vonn has been stripped," Romney said shortly after taking the stage.
"It was determined that President Obama has been going downhill faster than she has," he joked.
Organizers estimated that 10,000 people would attend the annual event and about 500 reporters from as far away as England and Japan were credentialed to cover the meeting. At least 60 percent, and maybe as high as 80 percent of the attendees are expected to be under the age of 30, a conference spokesman told CNN.
The CPAC conference follows another conservative meeting of Tea Party activists that took place earlier this month in Nashville, Tennessee. Followers of the Tea Party movement express independence from the national Republican Party, but a new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll shows that these activists would vote overwhelmingly Republican in a two-party race for Congress.
Among the attendees was a gentleman dressed up as an American Revolutionary war figure walking the halls, and early speakers frequently referenced the Tea Party -- tangible signs of how closely aligned the movement is with conservative ideology.
What a difference a year makes. At the 2009 CPAC conference, conservatives were still reeling from President Obama's victory just months earlier as well as the additional gains Democrats made in Congress in 2008.
In the closing speech last year, conservative talk radio show host Rush Limbaugh invigorated the audience, bringing them to their feet with a speech focused on conservative ideals.
Over the past 12 months, Republicans have seen the political tide turn: Obama's approval rating has dropped below 50 percent, several veteran Congressional Democrats have announced they will retire at the end of the year and a little-known state senator in Massachusetts did the unthinkable. Scott Brown won the late Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy's seat, an alarming wake-up call for Democrats.
Now, the Republican Party is hoping to capitalize on voter frustration with an unemployment rate slightly under 10 percent, the housing crisis and the debate over health care reform in Congress. Conservatives point to the recent Republican wins in Massachusetts, Virginia and New Jersey as evidence that momentum is on their side.
As conservatives try to coalesce around a message, a group rallying around the cause of "Constitutional Conservatism" unveiled a political manifesto on Wednesday to advocate for limited government and free enterprise.
The "Mount Vernon Statement," modeled on a conservative call to arms issued in 1960, was launched by 18 establishment conservatives such as former Attorney General Ed Meese, movement elder Richard Viguerie and anti-tax advocate Grover Norquist. The group also includes leaders of the Heritage Foundation, Family Research Council and American Conservative Union, among others.
The CPAC conference wraps up Saturday with the much-anticipated straw poll, seen as an indicator of the top GOP contenders for the 2012 presidential election.
The choices on the ballot this year are Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, Texas Rep. Ron Paul, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, Indiana Rep. Mike Pence, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, South Dakota Sen. John Thune, and a slot for "Other."Following the poll, conservative commentator Glenn Beck is scheduled to deliver the closing address.CNN's Rich Barbieri, Peter Hamby, Kristi Keck, Mark Preston and Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.
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