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Al Cardenas: Skyrocketing CPAC Reflects Conservative Clout
The annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) has become so large that it has outgrown its home in Washington, D.C., reflecting the burgeoning influence of the movement, American Conservative Union Chairman Al Cardenas says.
The Feb. 9-11 event at the Marriott Wardman Park hotel will be the biggest ever, hosting10,000 people, Cardenas said in an exclusive interview with Newsmax.TV.
"We are selling out this year, so we may have to look for a larger venue just because we've reached our capacity, something you would not have thought of two or three years ago."
Cardenas characterized the event as "a three-day extravaganza unlike anything anybody's ever seen."
"If you've never been there before, you'll want to be there. It's the spectacle, the event of the movement, and it'll be very, very exciting."
Former Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin will be the closing speaker at CPAC. Others scheduled to address the convention include Republican presidential candidates Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, and Rick Santorum; Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker; U.S. Sens. Jim DeMint of South Carolina and Marco Rubio of Florida; and U.S. Reps. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, Jim Jordan of Ohio, and Allen West of Florida, as well as influential conservative figures such as Grover Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform, Wayne LaPierre of the National Rifle Association, former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton, and Fox News' Mike Huckabee.
"The American Conservative Union has morphed into the guerilla group for the whole movement," Cardenas said. "This a great event, and it's the annual event for the conservative movement every year."
Regional CPACs also have started, with the first taking place in Florida last year. Others are planned for Chicago in April; Charlotte, N.C., in September to coincide with the Democratic National Convention in the city; and Los Angeles in October.
Those events will "give those who couldn't get to D.C. a chance to participate and to give the regional media, the local think tanks, the local tea party organizations a chance to participate," Cardenas said.
"We'll see where 2013 takes us. It'll be a great calendar year," he predicted.
Cardenas also praised the role that Newsmax has played with the conservative faithful, noting that the website is now a full sponsor of CPAC. "People, especially our youth, no longer go to the ostensibly mainstream means to obtain their contact, they go to Newsmax every morning -- as I do," he said.
"It's an incredible provider of provocative and persuasive information for the American people. And the further Newsmax grows, the better the conservative movement will be." |
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