CPAC's Winners — and Losers

With the right wing insanity of CPAC now over, commentators and pundits are ranking the winners and losers at the coven of extremists and panderers.  Some, such as Bob McDonnell and Chris Christie are likely winners simply because they did not attend and thus cannot be associated with a gathering where apologists for slavery drew national attention.  Others were losers either by virtue of the batshitery they espoused or because they are clearly not the darlings of the spittle flecked extremists and Neanderthals who make up much of the attendee base.  Politico has a score card on winners and losers.  Here are highlights:

There was one clear superstar at the Conservative Political Action Conference: Rand Paul.
The Kentucky senator roared into the event with big momentum from his filibuster on drones and followed up with a speech that seemed to broaden his support beyond the libertarian set. “Stand with Rand” was the event’s unofficial slogan, and attendees did so by making him the winner of the presidential straw poll.

After three days and 70-plus speeches, here is POLITICO’s look at who else thrived at one of the most important events on the conservative calendar — and who flopped. The list is based on crowd reaction, a few dozen conversations with conference-goers, and buzz on Twitter.

WINNERS:

Marco Rubio  The Florida senator, who finished a close second in the straw poll, made the most of his back-to-back appearance with Paul on Friday. While Paul called for major change, Rubio stressed that the party’s principles remain sound. He pleased social conservatives by highlighting his support for traditional marriage and opposition to abortion. He came across as self-effacing with jokes about the gulp of water he took during his State of the Union response. . . . .  Rubio did not broach his top priority right now: an immigration framework that includes a pathway to citizenship. Many CPAC attendees view that as amnesty, and it was clear the all-but-certain 2016 candidate wanted to avoid a Sister Souljah moment.

Chris Christie  Not getting invited to CPAC proved to be a blessing in disguise for the New Jersey governor. If he’d been invited, he might have taken flak for turning down the offer — or come and been booed.  Instead, the snub puts helpful distance between Christie and the national GOP in a state Barack Obama just carried by 17 points.

Scott Walker  The Wisconsin governor got an early Saturday time slot at a conference famous for its late-night parties. But he still got a huge, enthusiastic response.  While other purple state governors such as Virginia’s Bob McDonnell weren’t invited to CPAC, Walker’s presence was a sign that he’s acceptable to the establishment and popular with the grassroots. He finished sixth in the straw poll, with 6 percent.

LOSERS —

Karl Rove   A year ago the Republican strategist might have gotten standing ovations at this meeting. This year, as the face of the loathed GOP establishment, he was whacked around like a piñata.  Speakers didn’t even need to name him to generate boos.  “The Architects can head on back to the great Lone Star State and put their names on some ballot,” Sarah Palin said Saturday, referring to the nickname given Rove by George W. Bush.  Phyllis Schlafly, the social conservative activist who followed Palin, said Rove would be fired if he was a football coach.

Jeb Bush  If the former Florida governor runs for president, he wants to do it on his terms. The problems with this approach were on display Friday night – when a lecture he delivered at CPAC’s Reagan Dinner fell painfully flat.  Eschewing a teleprompter, Bush read his 19-minute lecture from a black binder that felt like was trying to channel former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman. Many in the audience thumbed through BlackBerrys while he talked.

Paul Ryan  Running as Romney’s No. 2 may have hurt Ryan’s brand more than it helped. The Wisconsin congressman’s fifth-place finish in the straw poll was strong evidence of this.
Ryan risks falling into the Jack Kemp trap: doomed to be “a thought leader” in the House like the man he once worked for, who was also a losing GOP vice presidential nominee. Some on the right wondered aloud here whether Ryan has it in him to run again for national office; the conventional wisdom is that he probably won’t run for president in 2016.

Bobby Jindal  The widespread expectation among conservative thought leaders is that the Louisiana governor will be the 2016 cycle’s Tim Pawlenty, a nice guy who would make a great cabinet secretary for the next Republican president. He pulled 3 percent in the straw poll, tied with Palin.
It was a sign of how much Jindal has been overshadowed by Paul and Rubio that throngs of attendees streamed out of the room after Romney spoke and before he took the stage an hour later. Romney himself notably omitted Jindal, who endorsed Rick Perry in the primaries, from a list of nine Republican governors that the party can learn from.