Trump Joins Others Hinting at Presidential Bids Among Activists
Donald Trump speaking at the Conservative Political Action conference (CPAC). Photographer: Mark Wilson/Getty Images
Even “the Donald” couldn’t resist asking for a new job.
“While I’m not at this time a candidate for the presidency,” billionaire real estate developer and television personality Donald Trump told a throng of conservative activists in Washington yesterday, “I will decide by June whether I will become one.”
Trump joined close to a dozen other would-be contenders for the Republican presidential nomination in testing their messages at the opening session of the annual Conservative Political Action Conference. Event organizers said more than 10,000 people would attend the three-day gathering, and several thousand of those were on hand to hear Trump.
The activists, emboldened by Republican gains in November’s midterm elections, are eager to turn those victories into a White House win for the party in 2012. So far, though, no one has emerged as a clear front-runner.
“I don’t even see a five-person front-runner,” said Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, as he navigated through crowds of conference attendees at the Marriott Wardman Park hotel. “Partly because we won, lots of people want to play.”
Former governors Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota and Mitt Romney of Massachusetts, and South Dakota Senator John Thune -- all weighing a presidential run -- are among those addressing the conference today. Two activist favorites, former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin and former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, opted to skip the event, citing scheduling conflicts.
Testing Messages
Other potential candidates yesterday used the gathering to test possible primary messages, introduce themselves to voters, and rally activists with attacks on President Barack Obama.
After speaking, they greeted attendees amid a maze of advocacy groups handing out fliers, media booths, and vendors selling items such as an “Obama countdown clocks.”
U.S. Representative Michele Bachmann, a favorite of anti- tax Tea Party activists who’s flirting with a presidential bid, began the conference by urging Republicans to make Obama “a one-term president.”
“We have seen President Obama usher in socialism under his watch over the last two years,” she said to cheers.
Newt Gingrich, the former House Speaker from Georgia who’s considering a run, hinted at a possible campaign platform with a number of policy suggestions. They included repealing the 2010 health-care law, eliminating the estate tax, signing a fiscally conservative budget, codifying an executive order that blocks taxpayer money from funding abortion, and signing a law to “decisively control the border now.”
New Energy Policy
He also proposed the outline of a new energy policy. Saying the administration is waging “a war against American energy,” he called for replacing the Environmental Protection Agency with an “Environmental Solutions Agency.”
Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum, a popular figure with social conservatives who also might run, accused the Obama administration of siding against a U.S. ally in its response to the unrest in Egypt and of failing to denounce Islamic extremism in strong enough terms.
“He doesn’t say that Jihadism is evil,” Santorum said of Obama. “This is someone who doesn’t believe in truth and evil and America.”
Conference participants gave their loudest applause to Trump, a last-minute addition to the schedule. The host of “The Apprentice” television program said he was weighing a presidential bid because the country “has become a whipping post” for the world.
No Tax Increase
“If I decide to run, I will not be raising taxes,” he told a cheering audience. “We’ll be taking in hundreds of billions of dollars from other countries that are screwing us.”
The conference, now in its 38th year, exposed potential rifts between the activists and Republican orthodoxy that may challenge the party as it attempts to win the White House.
Freshman lawmakers, elected on a wave of Tea Party support, cautioned in speeches that Republicans shouldn’t take the backing of fiscally conservative activists for granted.
“We weren’t elected because the American people love Republicans,” said new Representative Raul Labrador, an Idaho Republican. “We were elected because they love conservative principles.”
Some conference participants made clear they consider at least one part of the federal budget sacrosanct. A call by freshman Senator Rand Paul, a Tea-Party backed Republican from Kentucky, for Congress to take a “long and hard look” at cutting the defense budget prompted boos from audience members.
Protesting Rumsfeld, Cheney
At another conference gathering, Libertarian supporters of his father, Representative Ron Paul of Texas, filed out of the ballroom in protest when former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and former Vice President Dick Cheney took the stage.
Some of those who remained heckled the two key officials in Republican President George W. Bush’s administration. Ron Paul developed a strong following among some young activists when he sought the Republican presidential nomination in 2008, and is being urged by backers to run again. He opposed the Iraq War and continues legislative efforts to undo the anti-terrorist Patriot Act enacted under the Bush administration, arguing it infringes on civil liberties.
In another sign of discord, groups including the Family Research Council, Concerned Women for America, and the Heritage Foundation boycotted the event because GOProud, which represents gay Republicans and opposes a federal ban on gay marriage, is a conference participant.
Bachmann in her remarks urged unity among all those who oppose Obama. “For our conservative coalition to be victorious in 2012, it will take every one of us and then some,” she said. “We cannot shun each other for 2012.”
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