The Conservative Political Action Conference, hosted yearly by the American Conservative Union, attracts policy makers, political pundits, political activists, and potential political candidates to the nation’s capital for a discussion of the conservative issues of the day. Outside of the Republican National Convention, it is the largest Republican political event in the nation, with attendance at times exceeding ten thousand persons.
Speakers at CPAC often include presidential hopefuls, current and retired Republican officeholders at the state and federal levels, and political pundits such as Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, David Horowitz, and the late Andrew Breitbart. The event also includes a straw poll of presidential hopefuls. Like most straw polls, CPAC isn’t terribly predictive; in 2010, only 2,400 attendees cast ballots, and of those, Ron Paul won a plurality (due in large part to the large number of college students in attendance, a group that has tended to give Paul very high levels of support). In 2015, Rand Paul won the straw poll (Jeb Bush came in a distant fifth, behind Scott Walker, Ted Cruz, and Ben Carson). While the straw poll isn’t particularly predictive, the event is an important outreach opportunity, and most political analysts believe that Republican candidates who are serious about a presidential run will court their conservative base by attending CPAC.
See also Cattle Call
American Conservative Union, CPAC Web site. http://www.conservative.org/cpac/. Accessed September 5, 2015.