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Sarah Palin holds up a large soda as she speaks about New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's proposed large soda ban, at the 2013 Conservative Political Action Conference March 16, 2013 in National Harbor, Md.

Their guy lost badly in 2012. They’re not quite sure whom they want to pick up the pieces. But this weekend, the thousands of activists gathered on the shores of the Potomac outside Washington had an overarching message for the Republican Party’s political class: Butt out.

At the Conservative Political Action Conference this weekend, the stars were Marco Rubio and Rand Paul -- both men who won their elections even though the GOP establishment didn’t think they could.

Sarah Palin, the fiery former vice presidential nominee who some blame for John McCain’s 2008 loss, brought down the house when she took a 7-Eleven Big Gulp onstage in protest of the New York mayor’s ban on large sodas. That came after the laughter and cheers for her statements in opposition to gun control -- she declared that she and her husband have a deal: “He’s got the rifle, I’ve got the rack,” she said.

After three days, dozens of speakers, over a hundred hours of panel discussions, and a strong straw poll showing from a guy who didn't even get invited, here are eight takeaways from CPAC.

2016: It’s on
Call it the parade of presidential prospects, marching by nearly four years out from the 2016 election. With Paul, Rubio, Jeb Bush, Paul Ryan, Scott Walker, Bobby Jindal, and more all in attendance, the list of potential contenders goes on and on. (Bush and Walker have pointedly left the door open to presidential bids, with both refusing to rule it out.)

And almost all delivered speeches with an eye toward positioning themselves as the person best suited to lead the party to victory in 2016.

Related: With eye on 2016, Walker rouses CPAC crowd

"The GOP of old has grown stale and moss-covered," Paul declared to cheers during the conference's first day. "In America, we believe in the people and not in the government," said Walker, the Wisconsin governor. 

For the first time in a generation, the party has no frontrunner
For cycle after cycle, the Republican Party has been rewarding the next-guy-in-line with their presidential nomination -- but this time, it's all a jumble.

Romney was waiting in 2012 after he lost in 2008 to John McCain, who had been waiting since he lost to George W. Bush in 2000.

Bush, Bob Dole, George H.W. Bush, even Ronald Reagan, were all the next guy up. Now, there's no clear heir to the GOP throne. Many of CPAC's old guard -- Romney, Palin, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum -- don't hold elective office.

Among the new -- Rubio, Paul, Walker, Jeb Bush -- there's no clear favorite.

It leaves a wide-open -- and crowded -- GOP primary field. 

Gay marriage isn't the wedge issue it used to be
In 2011, opposition to same sex marriage was front and center at CPAC -- the opening day featured a panel on "traditional marriage" on the main stage. Not this year.

While the conservative Republican group GOProud was relegated to a small room on the sidelines of the conference, the group's evening panel -- at the invitation of a different conservative group -- was packed.

There were still plenty of older attendees who defended traditional marriage, but many of the younger ones had a different take.

"I'm of the prospect that government should not be involved in marriage, and that should not be an issue if people of the same-sex want to get married, they should be able to do so," said Mike Fox, a 23-year-old student at Northeastern University who came to Maryland for the conference.  

The other two legs of the GOP stool are also wobbly
President Ronald Reagan famously defined the Republican coalition as a three-legged stool of social, economic and foreign policy conservatives.

Gay marriage moving to the back burner takes one animating issue from social conservatives. And now there's confusion on the other two fronts, too.

Paul's stand against drone strikes and his call for a more isolationist foreign policy separates him from Republicans like McCain -- who labeled Paul a "wacko bird" when he took his anti-drone politics to the Senate floor.

The GOP's also divided on the sequester, with some warning that the cuts are terrible for defense and some looking the other way.

Conservatives are hanging more tightly together on economic policy, but they're still divided on what specific policies to push.

Risk proposing cuts in Medicare and Social Security? Threaten to shut down the Department of Education at a time when many Republicans identify student learning as a top priority?

And earlier this year, they lost the argument on taxes to President Obama. 

Politicians who want immigration reform are still afraid of the Right
Rubio is supposed to be the Republican champion for immigration reform -- a Cuban-American who ran as a Tea Party conservative. But he didn't even mention it from the stage at CPAC.

Contrast that with the right wing talk radio blitz Rubio launched after he announced that he was supporting a bipartisan immigration reform framework in the Senate.

Back then -- just months ago -- he even argued with Rush Limbaugh about how good it would be for the country.

But at CPAC, other speakers largely followed his lead in ommitting immigration talk. The cheers from the crowd came instead for lines like this, from Ann Coulter: "If amnesty goes through, the country will turn into California and Republicans will never win again."

When she questioned why Rubio was supporting immigration reform, someone in the audience yelled: "Traitor!" 

No one really argued conservatives need a fundamental change in attitude — except Jeb Bush
Conference speakers railed against the consultants -- "the Republican consulting class is just plain wrong," said Newt Gingrich.

They insisted new thinking isn't needed -- "We don't need a new idea. There is an idea. The idea is called America, and it still works," said Rubio.

And while Paul labeled the party "stale and moss-covered," his pitch wasn't aimed at widening its appeal to new voters -- but rather embracing libertarian values.

Almost completely missing from CPAC was the demographic handwringing that has consumed Republican Party leaders since Romney lost badly to Obama in the general election.

Instead, they were angry and defiant, with Rep. Allen West labeling such sentiment "malarkey" and Sarah Palin declaring: "We're not here to dedicate ourselves to new talking points coming from D.C."

Bush was an exception. "We're associated with being anti-everything," he said in a speech on Friday. "Way too many people believe that Republicans are anti-immigrant, anti-woman, anti-science, anti-gay, anti-worker. Many voters are simply unwilling to choose our candidates because those voters feel unloved, unwanted, and unwelcome in our party." 

CPAC stands with Rand
This year, CPAC stands with Rand Paul. The libertarian senator brought down the house on Thursday -- his speech drew cheers almost as loud as Palin's rousing address -- and his filibuster was constantly cited as an example of the kind of courage the new GOP needs.

"Stand with Rand" stickers were all over the lapels of college kids' blazers -- and by Saturday, the similarly designed posters were scarce on the ground and became a hot commodity.

He follows in his father's footsteps; former Rep. Ron Paul won the straw poll here in 2010 and 2011. The elder Paul's ardent supporters famously organized to win the straw polls, believing they would help give him national attention -- and some of that infrastructure helped his son out in 2013.

Chris Christie won by not showing up
The bombastic New Jersey governor was barely mentioned by speakers, but his presence loomed over the conference.

His specific non-invitation just drove headlines before CPAC. In the halls and ballrooms, everyone was talking about him.

"I was fundraising for him just last Thursday," said Walker, who shook his head in disbelief when asked about CPAC's decision not to invite the popular Christie.

The snub made CPAC seem at odds with the GOP push to build a bigger tent if the party's to win elections in blue states and nationwide.

And anyway, Christie didn't need to take the train down from Trenton for the cattle call to get noticed here -- he came in fourth in the straw poll, ahead of all the speakers except Paul, Rubio and Santorum.

CPAC stands with Rand.

“Torch of liberty” scion Rand Paul was the choice of the plurality of conservatives at the Conservative Political Action Conference, as Paul won the much-hyped straw poll with 25 percent. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio was a close second with 23 percent.

It shouldn’t be surprising that the Kentucky senator won the straw poll. This was not a weekend of self-reflection for conservatives. It was one of standing by principles, and no one more represents standing by principles than Paul.

Paul last week further endeared himself to conservatives by going through with a 13-hour filibuster – a modern-day record – of President Barack Obama’s nomination to be chief of central intelligence. That effort by the Tea Party favorite prompted Twitter hash tags, signs at CPAC, and even fundraising emails from the National Republican Senatorial Committee by the name of Stand With Rand. 

Additionally, with 23 people on the CPAC straw-poll ballot, Paul benefitted from the deepest support for a single candidate because of young Libertarians, many of whom make up CPAC's audience. In fact, a majority -- 52 percent -- of voters were between the ages of 18 to 25, according to Republican Tony Fabrizio, who analyzed the results for CPAC and made the official announcement Saturday.

CPAC has always attracted college-age activists, but this is an even higher number than in past years, according to Fabrizio.

Paul supporters have demonstrated strong organizational skills around straw polls over the last several years, as they helped Paul’s father, ex-Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, win the 2010 and 2011 CPAC straw polls.

Rick Santorum finished a distant third with 8 percent. Popular New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who was not invited to CPAC, finished fourth with 7 percent; Paul Ryan, the 2012 vice-presidential candidate was next at 6 percent; then Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker 5 percent; neurosurgeon Ben Carson and keynoter Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, tied at 4 percent; followed by Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and ex-Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin percent.

Related: More CPAC coverage from NBC News

Forty-four others, including write-in votes for Dwight Eisenhower, Richard Nixon, and Allen West, got 14 percent. 

Before anyone makes too much of the results, remember that the last person to win the straw poll three years before an open presidential election (no incumbent) was Rudy Giuliani in 2005. While Giuliani led in many national polls, he only won 1 delegate in the Republican presidential primaries in 2008. And in 2006, the winner was George Allen, the former Virginia governor, who had his 2006 Senate race sunk by his YouTube utterance of "macaca," a term he used to describe a Democratic video tracker.

Voting took place throughout the weekend, but voting closed at 1 p.m. ET Saturday. CPAC organizers said privately they expected up to 8,000 and 10,000 activists at this year's conference -- 2,930 voted.

The ballroom at the event holds 3,500 seats, and up to 4,000 people when standing room is included. All voting took place electronically, either through kiosks at the site in National Harbor, Md., just outside Washington, D.C., through an app, or online.

This story was originally published on Sat Mar 16, 2013 5:49 PM EDT

AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin drinks from a 7-Eleven Super Big Gulp on stage while speaking at the 40th annual Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor, Md., on Saturday. Earlier in the week a New York judge struck down a ban proposed by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg to end the sale of sugared sodas larger than 16 oz.

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin re-emerged into the national spotlight to level a blistering rebuke of both President Barack Obama and the Republican establishment, calling upon a friendly conservative audience to "stop preaching to the choir."

Amid the Republican soul-searching on display at this week's Conservative Political Action Conference, the onetime GOP vice presidential nominee issued her prescription: "Now is the time to furlough the consultants, and tune out the pollsters, send the focus groups home, and toss the political scripts," Palin said, "because If we truly know what we believe, we don't need professionals to tell us."

Palin's speech — the first major appearance she's made following the presidential election and her expired contract as a television analysts — was equally critical of Democrats and the Obama administration. Her remarks were a tour de force of conservative memes about Obama, dinging him on everything from his golfing to the canceled White House tours taking place under sequestration.

"Dandy idea, Mr. President — should've started with yours!" Palin said of the proposed expansion of background checks for gun purchases, earning her loud cheers from the conservative faithful in attendance. 

Alleging Obama of conducting a "permanent campaign," Palin said at another point: "Mr. President, we admit it, you won — now step away from the teleprompter, and do your job!"

Palin's speech was familiar for its folksiness (or kitsch) that helped her build a national profile following her stint as John McCain's running mate in 2008. She drank from a Big Gulp at one point during her speech — an allusion to the ban on large soft drinks sought by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. And she joked of her Christmas present to her husband, Todd: "He's got the rifle, I've got the rack."

That kind of signature style by Palin helped fuel the rise of the Tea Party movement, which earned her the enmity of liberals and the love of dyed-in-the-wool conservatives. But despite stoking speculation about her eventual career prospects, Palin opted against seeking the Republican nomination for president in 2012. The months following the election saw Fox News opt against renewing her contract as a contributor, putting the former Alaska governor on as uncertain footing as ever entering today's speech to CPAC, her second before the major conservative gathering. 

She used her platform on Saturday to deliver a lashing of the Republican establishment, characterizing the party's elected leaders and the consultants who support them as being "too calculating."

"They talk about rebuilding the party? How about rebuilding the middle class? They talk about rebranding the GOP, instead of restoring the trust of the American people," she said. "We're not here to dedicate ourselves to new talking points coming from D.C. We're not here to put a fresh coat of rhetorical paint on our party."

Palin's rebuke comes as the GOP's official instruments of power conduct their own autopsy of last year's unsuccessful election, and as conservatives this week offered their own ideas as to how to reinvigorate their movement. 

Some Republicans, for instance, argued to CPAC this week that immigration reform would help repair an electoral slide with Latino voters, an increasingly important electoral bloc whose growing support for Democrats threatens to marginalize the GOP. That won polite reception, but far from exuberant support. 

And the Republican National Committee on Monday will release its own official report on how to improve the party's infrastructure heading into the elections in 2014 and 2016. New conservative super PACs have arisen, too, to support Republican primary candidates regarded as more electable in general elections than some of their more conservative foes. 

"The last thing we need is Washington, D.C. vetting our candidates," she said.

Should conservatives shoot all the consultants now?

Top GOP strategists like Karl Rove and Ed Gillespie might want to watch out, because there was at least one apparent yes on Thursday at the Conservative Political Action Conference.
 
“Politics is like war. If you can’t win, get the hell going,” said Democratic pollster Pat Caddell, who also has been critical of President Obama and the Democrats. “It’s personally offensive when the GOP establishment throws away a win like they did in 2012.”

Caddell, a Fox News contributor, joined a handful of Republicans on a CPAC panel entitled “Should We Shoot All the Consultants Now?” to discuss how the party managed the 2012 campaign.

There was no clear consensus, except that Caddell was the most critical person in the room.
 
“I blame the donors who allow themselves to be played for marks. I blame the people in the grassroots for allowing themselves to be played for suckers,” he said. “It’s time to stop being marks. It’s time to stop being suckers. It’s time for you people to get real.”
 
Consultants have had overwhelming power for a long time, added Republican National Committeeman Morton Blackwell. He maintained that this influence hurts the party, because there is a strong incentive for consultants to spend money on advertising where they often receive a 15% commission. Ad buys, therefore, often take priority over “people-intensive activities” centered on grassroots organization.
 
But the sole consultant on the panel was more skeptical about directing the blame at one group. 
 
“Consultants are either geniuses or idiots every two years,” said Jeff Roe, founder of Axiom Strategies. “Consultants’ role on this is somewhat overstated.”
 
There are many other factors that set the campaign’s tone, agreed Brian Baker, president of the End Spending Action Fund. Everybody who is a part of the campaign is responsible for its failure, he said.

But Caddell had harsh words for Team Romney. “The Romney campaign is the single worst campaign in the history of the United States,” Caddell said. “[Chief strategist Stuart] Stevens had as much business running a campaign as I do sprouting wings and flying out of this room.”
 
He predicted that the Republican Party would become extinct, unless it became the anti-establishment, anti-Washington party.
 
“In my party, we play to win. We play for life and death,” said Caddell, who served as Jimmy Carter’s pollster. “Your party has no problem playing the Washington Generals to the Harlem Globetrotters.”

Other panelists, however, were more optimistic about the GOP’s future.
 
“I think he’s dead wrong,” said Baker, arguing that the party was still successful, especially outside of Washington.
 
“There are 30 Republican governors -- highest in the party in 12 years,” he said. “The Republican Party won over 700 seats in state legislative races in 2010 and there are now more Republican state legislators than in any time since the 1920s.”

Former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney sought to pass the torch of leadership in the GOP to a new generation of conservatives in his first major public speech since losing last year's election. 

Romney, the failed candidate who challenged President Barack Obama in 2012, heralded a handful of Republican governors and his former running mate — Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan — as the next generation of GOP leadership. And he counseled party activists gathered here at the Conservative Political Action Conference to learn from his campaign's missteps. 

"It is up to us to make sure that we learn from my mistakes, and from our mistakes, so that we can win the victories those people and this nation depend upon," Romney told a warmly supportive CPAC crowd.

"It’s fashionable in some circles to be pessimistic about America, about conservative solutions, about the Republican Party," he added. "I utterly reject that pessimism. We may not have carried the day last Nov. 7, but we haven’t lost the country we love, and we haven't lost our way."

The former Massachusetts governor has kept a deliberately low profile following his lopsided loss versus Obama last November.

Following a campaign in which he was caricatured as out of touch — an image reinforced by his comments about "47 percent" of Americans depending upon government — many Republicans have quickly looked past Romney, who seemed at risk of becoming relegated to footnote status within the GOP.

But Romney used his speech to pledge to remain involved in Republican politics. 

"I am sorry that I will not be your president – but I will be your co-worker and I will stand shoulder to shoulder alongside you," he said. "In the end, we will win just as we have won before, and for the same reason: because our cause is just and it is right."

And Romney singled out a handful of Republicans in his speech who could become that next generation of winners.

He hailed South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (who introduced him), and Republican Govs. Rick Snyder (Mich.), Nathan Deal (Ga.), Scott Walker (Wis.), Susana Martinez (N.M.) and Brian Sandoval (Nev.), along with two governors who weren't invited to CPAC because of perceived apostasies against conservatism: New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell.

Romney made few references, aside from Ryan, to leaders in Congress. Sens. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., Rand Paul, R-Ky., or Ted Cruz, R-Texas, did not earn a shout-out from the former GOP nominee.

CPAC has been an important gathering for Romney in the past. He twice won its influential straw poll, and ended his first bid for the Republican nomination at 2008's gathering. Romney called himself a "severely conservative" governor during his speech at CPAC in 2012, a description which Democrats turned against him in the general election.

Kevin Lamarque / Reuters

Former Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney acknowledges supporters as he speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference at National Harbor, Md., March 15, 2013.

Before this gathering of Republican stalwarts, Romney also weighed in on the looming question before the GOP, about whether it should moderate in some respects, or continue to hew to its conservative ideology. 

He argued that a "conservative vision can attract a majority of Americans and form a governing coalition of renewal and reform."

It's unclear whether or when the public might expect to hear from again from Romney, who recently joined the executive committee of one of his sons' investment companies. But he struck a wistful note upon reflecting about his failed campaign.

"Thank you again for your help and support along our journey," he said. "Ann and I will treasure these memories all the days of our lives."

This story was originally published on Fri Mar 15, 2013 1:59 PM EDT

Paul Ryan — the GOP's 2012 vice presidential nominee — declined to weigh in on the direction of his party during a speech Friday at the Conservative Political Action Conference and focused his remarks instead on the budget he authored this week

The Wisconsin congressman, who chairs the House Budget Committee, focused his remarks at CPAC almost exclusively on the budget he produced on Tuesday, the third he has written as chairman of the panel.

Ryan's budgets helped build his notoriety among conservatives, and propelled him to the spot as Mitt Romney's running mate last fall. But amid Republican soul-searching about the party's path forward, Ryan stuck to remarks about his budget — a series of proposals that are already generally popular among conservatives.

"This has been a really big week. We got white smoke from the Vatican, and we got a budget from the Senate," he joked. "But when you read it, you find the Vatican's not the only place blowing smoke this week."

Ryan's just one of several speakers thought to be possible contenders for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination. Among others, Sens. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Marco Rubio, R-Fla., both spoke yesterday.

Those two senators concentrated their remarks mostly on the direction of the GOP, and why — or why not — the party is in need of reinvention.

Carolyn Kaster / AP

House Budget Chairman Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., speaks about the 2014 Budget Resolution during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, March 12, 2013.

Ryan's remarks were mostly a rehash of his press conferences and media appearances in support of his budget.

"Today, I want to make the case for balance," he said. "That case, in a nutshell, is that a balanced budget will create a healthier economy."

The man whom Ryan hoped would become president this year, Mitt Romney, will address CPAC later this afternoon.

This story was originally published on Fri Mar 15, 2013 10:11 AM EDT

Mitt Romney has one term as governor, two presidential campaigns, three elite university degrees, decades of church leadership and 25 years in the private sector under his belt -- but at age 66, sources close to him say he’s trying to figure out what to do with his life.

But does a trip to the Washington, D.C. area to address the conservative CPAC conference on Friday mean that Romney is interested in waging a political comeback? 

“No, no. No,” said his son, Tagg emphatically. “He doesn’t want to be back… He’s done.”

Former campaign spokesman Ryan Williams says that while Romney is not seeking to be back in the public eye by addressing the crowd, there was a specific reason for choosing to make his first public speech since losing the election in front of this particular group.  “The CPAC speech is a chance for him to thank the activists who helped him during his presidential campaigns in 2008 and 2012.” 

“He took the appropriate amount of time off, and is returning now because of the personal significance this event has for him,” Williams added.

As First Read has pointed out, Romney finished either first or second in every CPAC straw poll since 2007. What’s more, he ended his 2008 presidential bid at the conservative conference. And Williams says he can still remember the disappointment in the air when Romney’s speech concluded in ‘08. 

But when he speaks on Friday, he will no longer do so as a current or potential presidential candidate. “He understands that there’s a new generation of Republican leaders now emerging to guide the party,” Williams said.  “He’s not a politician who craves the spotlight.”

Romney’s quiet exit from public life is reminiscent of another family member’s -- his father, former Michigan Gov. George Romney.  Both men went into politics in their mid-50s after lucrative careers in the private sector.  George Romney lost a bid for president in 1968 and served briefly in the Nixon administration and then went on to spend decades in charity work. 

"My dad wants to be involved in giving back as well, and he's still figuring out the best way to do that,” Tagg Romney said.  Romney has said he is planning on dedicating time to a foundation working with children, but he has also signed on as chairman of the executive committee of Solamere, Tagg’s investment firm based in Boston. Romney will serve in that role for one week a month, and spend the rest of his time continuing to float between Utah and California, where his other sons, daughters-in-law and grandchildren live.

Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential nominee, will re-emerge into the public spotlight with a speech on Friday before the Conservative Political Action Conference, a gesture that has left some Republicans wondering why.

Romney will speak to activists for the first time since suffering a decisive defeat versus President Barack Obama in last fall’s election.

And he’ll do it before a gathering that has witnessed some of the most enduring moments of Romney’s political career: He twice won CPAC’s closely watched straw poll, he ended his 2008 campaign there, and it was at the confab in 2012 that Romney termed himself a “severely conservative” governor – a characterization which Democrats would turn back against him over the course of last year’s campaign.

And while it’s unknown what Romney might say during his speech on Friday, his speech before CPAC has prompted muted bewilderment among Romney’s own allies and conservative activists alike.

Brendan Smialowski / AFP - Getty Images

Former Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney arrives for lunch at the White House November 29, 2012 in Washington, D.C.

The former Massachusetts governor, who turned 66 on Tuesday, had kept a deliberately low profile after Nov. 6 of last year. Romney met once with Obama and gathered with campaign alumni this winter, but has otherwise avoided a spotlight that wasn’t always kind of him throughout last year’s campaign.

He’s only started to re-emerge in recent weeks. Romney gave an interview to “Fox News Sunday” earlier this month, and joined the executive board of his son Tagg’s investment company. Romney’s speech on Friday is his return to the public square, though it’s not clear how much interest conservatives will have in what he’ll have to say.

“What can he offer them?” asked Reagan biographer Craig Shirley. “Based on his interview I saw last weekend, not much. When he ran, he didn’t seem to understand much of this country.”

Romney allies also privately express their misgivings about Romney’s choice of CPAC to stage his national comeback. Its penchant for red-meat conservative rhetoric could make Romney still seem bitter about the election, and scuttle his chance to builder a broader, statesmanlike profile.

Moreover, Romney had occasionally struggled from a rocky relationship with conservatives throughout his campaign. Conservative critics had often been quick to criticize the Republican ticket for any perceived tack toward the political middle in the general election. And following the election, many of Romney’s detractors were unsparing in their criticism of the Republican nominee, in particular his surreptitiously-recorded comments about the “47 percent” of Americans whom he called dependent on government.

The former GOP nominee’s decision to speak at CPAC, though, likely reflects his close relationship with Al Cardenas, a supporter of Romney’s who heads the American Conservative Union, which organizes CPAC.

And not all Romney supporters think the decision to speak at CPAC is a bad idea, either.

“I think it’s a very good sign for the movement that Mitt Romney will be there,” said former Rep. Vin Weber, R-Minn., who served as an informal adviser to the Romney campaign. “A lot of people kind of expected that Romney would move back to the moderate Republican middle, which wouldn’t be a good thing for him – it would make him look cynical.”

Related:

Conservative struggle on immigration on display at CPAC

CPAC chair: Christie didn't 'deserve' an invite this year

Rand Paul calls GOP 'stale and moss covered'

This story was originally published on Fri Mar 15, 2013 5:20 AM EDT

Gay Republican groups like GOProud were not invited to the Conservative Political Action Convention this year, but that didn’t stop them from making an impact at the annual confab. 

Speaking in a tiny but packed conference room just down the hall from the main CPAC stage, GOProud Executive Director Jimmy LaSalvia urged activists to help the group broaden its reach within the Republican Party. 

“How can we build a new, modern coalition that can win? Well, we bring together conservatives and libertarians and social conservatives and everyone who shares our vision of a government that puts freedom first,” he said. “Millions of Americans, including gay Americans, will join us if we ask them and welcome them.” 

The other speakers at the panel discussion, sponsored by the Competitive Enterprise Institute, which hosted GOProud as their guest at CPAC, said GOProud and similar groups have demographics on their side, citing statistics showing a majority of Republicans under 30 support gay marriage. 

LaSalvia also emphasized that pro-gay GOP activists should not reject Republicans who oppose same-sex marriage -- but he did skewer those within the party who he said “just don’t like gay people.” 

“And in 2013, that’s just not OK in America anymore. Because gay people are in every family. Every community. Every circle of friends,” he said. 

NBC's Kasie Hunt contributed to this article.

Texas Republican Gov. Rick Perry stepped back onto the national stage on Thursday to accuse President Barack Obama of "hysteria" over the sequester -- and to make a not-so-subtle swipe at Mitt Romney, who beat him in the 2012 primary.

"The popular media narrative is that this country has shifted away from conservative ideas, as evidence by the last two presidential elections. That’s what they think, that’s what they say," Perry told the crowd at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Thursday afternoon. "That might be true if Republicans had actually nominated conservative candidates in 2008 and 2012."

Perry was referring in part to Romney, who struggled for years to win over the conservative activists that populate gatherings like CPAC. Romney is slated to speak again to the gathering on Friday.

Perry's speech at the confab -- for years a draw for conservative politicians with national aspirations -- was the first of several scheduled for 2012 GOP hopefuls who lost to Romney.

Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum is scheduled to speak, as is former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

In his speech, Perry criticized Obama for playing politics with the sequester.

"What we are getting is a lot of hysteria," he said. "We're getting a lot of hysteria right now from a president more concerned about the next election than saving programs like Medicare."

Perry singled out the government's decision to release more than 2,000 illegal immigrants because of budget concerns related to the sequester.

"This president's posture, it'd be laughable if he hadn't taken it one step too far, dangerously releasing criminals onto our streets to make a political point," Perry said of Obama. "When you have a federally-sponsored jailbreak -- and don't get confused, that's exactly what that is -- when you've had a federally-sponsored jailbreak, you've crossed the line from politics of spin to politics as a craven form of cynicism."

Perry criticized the Medicaid expansion that's included as part of Obama's health care plan -- an expansion that several Republican governors have accepted in other states, including Florida and Michigan.

"The Medicaid expansion amounts to one large, incremental step towards single-payer socialized medicine. That’s where we headed and I for one will not accept that as long as I’m governor of the state of Texas," he said.

Conservatives' struggles with immigration reform were on full display on Thursday at CPAC, as activists listened politely — but offered no warm embrace — to arguments that the American right should support a pathway to legalization or citizenship for the 12 million undocumented immigrants in the United States.

Several members of a late-morning panel in immigration argued that supporting immigration reform was inherently conservative, and would help stem the tide of Latinos voting increasingly for Democrats in recent elections.

But the only major applause line of the panel came after Rep. Raul Labrador, R-Idaho, a Puerto Rican-American, decried the notion of allowing the undocumented immigrants currently in the United States a pathway to citizenship.

"It would be a travesty, in my opinion, to treat those who violated our laws to get here much better than those who have patiently waited their turn to come to the United States," he said.

The topic of immigration reform has long been a dicey one for conservatives. President George W. Bush had sought an immigration reform law in 2007, but it was felled largely by conservatives in his own party who decried the proposal as "amnesty." The influence of that uprising reverberated throughout the GOP, as former supporters of immigration reform moved rightward on the issue.

But following repeated losses in national elections — fueled, in part, by the growing influence of the Latino vote, and its increasing support for Democrats — Republican leaders have called for revisiting the issue of immigration to help stymie Hispanic voters' drift toward Democrats.

"If we're going to stop the tide against secular socialism, we need more allies," said the Republican pollster Whit Ayres.

"Every single month for the next 20 years, 50,000 Hispanic youngsters will turn 18-years-old, and become eligible to vote," he said, hoping to illustrate the inevitable, growing influence of Latino voters. "If we hope to have a vibrant, center-right coalition, we'd better reach out aggressively."

Added Jennifer Korn, of the American Action Network: "Right now what we have is de-facto amnesty, and that's just not acceptable … You can be conservative, and be for immigration reform."

But the crowd full of conservative activists offered no sense of a groundswell for immigration reform along the lines of the type of law currently being drafted in the Senate. That law, which has been cobbled together by a bipartisan group of senators, calls for stricter border enforcement, but also a path to earned citizenship for the 12 million undocumented immigrations estimated to be currently in the U.S.

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., a member of that bipartisan group who's helped sell the plan to conservatives, will speak later Thursday afternoon.