politics to go: jeff dunetz

Why was this CPAC different from other CPACs?

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While 11 states were voting during last week’s “Super Tuesday” primaries, I was braving the New Jersey Turnpike en route to CPAC, the annual Conservative Political Action Conference, where American conservatives meet to discuss ideas and policies, listen and learn from other conservatives, meet candidates, and “recharge” their batteries for the upcoming 12 months.

CPAC 2016 was different — not the program, but the mood. This year’s event was probably better planned than the seven previous CPACs I’ve attended and was kept running much closer to schedule. But there was a pall in the air and the crowd was subdued.

As I was informally interviewing the attendees on Thursday, it became evident that this was a Ted Cruz crowd. However, walking through “radio row,” the set-up for the dozens of remote radio broadcasts, the two key questions heard over and over were, “Will there be an open convention?” and “Will you vote for Trump if he is the nominee?” Indeed, in my three radio interviews and one television appearance, those were the first questions I was asked (my answers were: probably not on a brokered convention and I will make up my mind after the convention on voting for Trump).

Sean Hannity of FoxNews, the final speaker that day, urged the crowd to vote for the Republican nominee whoever that is. Hannity also hosted a debate watch party that night and conducted an informal “raise your hands,” poll of the gathering, confirming that Cruz was the number one choice of the crowd, followed by Rubio, Kasich and Trump, in that order.

Meanwhile, there was buzz that Donald Trump would not receive a warm welcome when he appeared on Saturday. William Temple, a man famous at CPAC for wearing a Founding Fathers costume each year, was planning to lead a mass walkout during the Trump speech on Saturday morning; he led a successful walkout during Jeb Bush’s 2015 speech, so it wasn’t an idle threat. Another protest was to be held inside the ballroom during Trump’s speech, with attendees chanting “No Trump” or “Never Trump.”

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