12:30 PM Update: I’ve been struggling with how to describe CPAC to people who’ve never been. A friend offers the following suggestions: “It’s like a Star Trek convention for conservatives.”
1:00 PM Update: President Bush was scheduled to speak at 10:20 AM today. They moved the speech to 7:15 AM. Unfortunately I missed the memo that the speech time got switched. Luckily my bloggers’ row neighbor John from Right Wing News gave me the scoop. People started lining up as early as 4:00 AM. You had to be in line by about 5:00 AM to get inside the room. The room was that packed. This is the first year that Dubya has addressed CPAC (and it is the first time that a sitting president has addressed CPAC since 1988 — I believe Reagan came to CPAC every year during his presidency).
1:10 PM Update: Consensus at the bloggers’ lunch (or my table at least) was that Mike Pence delivered one of the best speeches of the conference this morning.
1:15 PM Update: Rob Bluey just presented the blogger of the year award to Ace of Spade. Congrats, Ace.
1:25 PM Update: I’m taking a bloggers’ break to go represent IWF at the CPAC job fair. If you’re not at the conference, don’t let that stop you from reading up on our junior fellows internship program.
4:30 PM Update: I’m back from the job fair. Thanks to everyone who stopped by the IWF table to chat. Day two is almost in the books. Former Sen. Rick Santorum is on stage now. Word on the streets is that Charlotte Hays will be at CPAC tomorrow. Hopefully I’ll get her to blog for a bit here on Inkwell.