Washington (dpa) - Arch-conservative Republicans are already
jockeying for the next presidential race just months after the party
failed to oust President Barack Obama from the White House.
On Saturday, Senator Rand Paul, the darling of the Tea Party
faction, won 25 percent of the straw vote at the annual Conservative
Political Action Conference (CPAC) outside Washington.
Senator Marco Rubio was not far behind with 23 per cent of the
vote, according to media reports, followed by former Pennsylvania
senator Rick Santorum (8 percent); and New Jersey Governor Chris
Christie (7 percent), who was ironically considered too liberal to
even be invited to the gathering.
The rally, which drew about 3,000 grass roots activists from the
most conservative wing of the party, provides a showcase for rising
Republican stars.
Most surprising was the support for Christie, who in the weeks
before the presidential election angered many Republicans by shaking
Obama's hand and escorting him to view the destruction of hurricane
Sandy in Christie's state of New Jersey.
The Republican party is deeply split between more centrist members
like Senator John McCain, who was booed at the conference, and
upstarts like his former vice presidential running mate from 2008,
Sarah Palin.
McCain and others want the party to tone down its far-right
ideology and offer moderate candidates who can also appeal to the
constituency that helped return Obama to the White House: Hispanics
and women.
But Palin condemned those efforts, calling for Tea Party
supporters and other conservatives to stick to their strong
ideological bent.
On Friday, Mitt Romney, who lost his bid for the White House to
Obama, made his first major public appearance at the rally since the
election. Since his loss in November, he has been noticeably absent
from other Republican gatherings and the internal party debate.
"I am sorry that I will not be your president," he said. "But I
will be your co-worker, and I will stand shoulder to shoulder with
you. In the end, we will win just as we have won before, and for the
same reason: because our cause is right and it is just."
The CPAC gathering was largely upstaged over the past days by the
revelation by Republican Senator Rob Portman that he supported gay
marriage - a red flag for the CPAC faction of the party.
Portman had voted against gay marriage on religious grounds as a
member of the US House of Representatives and the US Senate. He said
he changed his mind after learning that his 21-year-old son was gay.
