American Conservative Union chairman Al Cardenas spoke briefly with reporters ahead of the beginning of the CPAC conference -- explaining why he didn't invite New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and insisting that the GOP is "not a home for everybody."

As the conference opens, the GOP's identity crisis -- expand the tent, or try to convince more people to crowd under what's already built -- is on sharp display.

"I'm a firm believer that if the Republican Party's going to have success, it's going to do so by being a conservative party and not a home for ah, for everybody," Cardenas said. "And that's how you grow. I mean, look, you grow your tent by convincing others, and persuading others, that yours is the way, and you build your tent by reaching out to the new demographics of America not with a watered down version of who we ought to be but with a true, real, solid version of who we are."

Cardenas also repeated explanations for why the conference hadn't invited New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie to speak at the event.

"This year, for better or for worse, we felt like, ah, like he didn't deserve to be on the all-star selection, ah, and, for decisions that he made. And so hopefully next year he's back on the right track and being a conservative," Cardenas said. "He's a popular figure, but everyone needs to live by the parameters of the movement."

Also not invited was Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, who recently signed a transportation bill that included new taxes.

Cardenas approached McDonnell differently, however, saying the conference only had room for one Virginian -- attorney general Ken Cuccinelli, who's running for governor. Cardenas called him the "future" of the GOP in Virginia.

The Republican Party’s internal struggle over how to expand its reach will play out in stark relief at this week’s Conservative Political Action Conference, with activists locked in a near-civil war over the basic question of who should be part of the movement – and who should not.

This year’s meeting has already made news with its exclusion of notable names from the invite list: New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell. 

There will be plenty of conservative stars, like Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida and Rand Paul of Kentucky, along with 2012 vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan (among other potential 2016 presidential candidates). And attendees will have a chance to reacquaint themselves with familiar names and faces from the not-so-distant past such as Mitt Romney, Sarah Palin and the ubiquitous Donald Trump.

But the annual conservative confab comes at a serious and crucial moment for the Republican Party: Its last two presidential nominees lost decisively to President Barack Obama, and its lone instrument of power -- the GOP majority in the House -- has been constantly plagued by infighting between conservative insurgents and its establishment-minded leadership.

And the American right seems as divided as ever over the path forward.

“I think, increasingly, we as Republicans have come across as intolerant and unfocused on the needs of the underserved,” said Fred Malek, a fixture of GOP politics for decades.

“And we need to speak much more to the aspirational needs of people, and not speak about the dependence of the ‘47 percent,’” he added, referencing 2012 Republican nominee Mitt Romney’s infamous comments, “but rather how the ‘47 percent’ become part of the 25 percent or 10 percent or 1 percent.”

Ideological fealty to marginalize GOP?
That internal struggle threatens to spill into the open at CPAC, a gathering that has been established as an important gathering for official Republicans, yet still attracts the kind of stalwart conservative activists who have helped to ignite this GOP family feud. 

“I thought it was a mistake to exclude Christie,” said Vin Weber, a former Republican congressman who remains active in the party’s political leadership. “It reinforces this narrow, closed stereotype of Republicans.”

Christie angered conservatives by agreeing to implement insurance exchanges under Obama’s health care reform law, and for praising the president’s handling of Hurricane Sandy just days before the election. McDonnell upset conservatives with his new transportation law, which includes some new taxes.

“I would argue that they do not have too much to offer up in terms of the future of the conservative movement,” Jeff Bell, of the American Principles Project, said of the two governors.

Those warring views cut to the heart of the modern GOP’s internal rift. On one side are conservatives who are eager to excommunicate Republicans who commit the slightest act of ideological heresy. The other faction is composed of Republicans who worry that the party’s insistence on ideological fealty will continue to marginalize the GOP amid a changing electorate.

Though no immediate resolution is in sight, the Republican National Committee will weigh in following its own autopsy of the party’s shortcomings during last fall’s elections. It will recommend improved digital operations and a more robust outreach, but is also expected to emphasize the need for some candidates to speak in less shrill terms about sensitive issues.

“We can’t run the same campaigns. For some, it means that boneheaded comments about rape and women – that’s just not going to fly,” said a source familiar with the report, referencing GOP Senate candidates in Indiana and Missouri who lost winnable races last fall due to their controversial comments about rape.

Romney's first remarks since election
The forthcoming RNC report and this week’s CPAC gathering add up to a potentially pivotal week for the future of the party.

Jonathan Ernst / Reuters file photo

Sen. Marco Rubio addresses the American Conservative Union's annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Washington, February 9, 2012.

And though McDonnell and Christie were excluded from the gathering, other corners of the GOP will be well-represented. Tea Party darlings like Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn. and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, will each speak.

Also on display will be conservatives who may hope to unify the GOP as the party’s presidential nominee in 2016. Along with Rubio, Paul and Ryan, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker will also address attendees.

The influential conference concludes with an oft-hyped, closely watched straw poll of attendees’ preference in a presidential nominee.

A past winner of two such straw polls, Romney, will make his first public speech since the election on Friday. And former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, whose national star power has waxed and waned in the scope of a single presidential election cycle, will speak on Saturday.

“There’s going to be a lot of heat, but not much light,” on the presidential front said Craig Shirley, a Reagan biographer and conservative PR guru. “It’s not going to resolve itself until the first stirrings of the 2014 midterm elections.”

Related:

On eve of CPAC, GOP searches for identity, policy principles

Obama's meeting with GOP: Cordial, but no consensus

This story was originally published on Thu Mar 14, 2013 4:31 AM EDT

When House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan was asked why his latest budget repeals the 2010 federal health-care -- despite the results of last year's presidential election -- the former Republican vice-presidential running mate gave this answer.

"So just because the election didn't go our way," he told National Review," that means we're supposed to change our principles?"

But on the eve of the three-day Conference Political Action Conference (CPAC) that begins on Thursday in the DC area and that will hear from countless Republican politicians, Ryan's answer raises this follow-up question:

What principles -- beyond opposing President Obama's agenda?

Is the GOP a free-market party, or one that's willing to federally bail out the banks if the country is on the brink of another Great Depression?

Is it a party that believes in strong national defense, or is it willing to wage a nearly 13-hour filibuster to highlight how drones could infringe on civil liberties?

Is the GOP a party that stresses deficit reduction and balanced budgets above all else, or is it one willing to support unpaid-for wars and unpaid-for new entitlements?

Is it a party that favors comprehensive immigration reform, or that opposes it?

Does the GOP oppose tax increases, or will it vote for raising rates on the wealthiest Americans?

And is it a party that opposes gay marriage, or one that's becoming more accepting of it?

Yes, the GOP believes in lower taxes and less government. But as Politico's Jonathan Martin and Maggie Haberman write, many of the tensions above will be on display at CPAC as the party -- after its second-straight presidential loss -- finds itself in the midst of an "identity crisis."

"The pillars of the conservative era ushered in by Reagan — a muscular defense, traditional cultural values and devotion to free markets – are being questioned by leading Republicans, and what could take the place of the Gipper’s trinity is now being openly debated in a fashion more reminiscent of the famously fractious Democrats of yore."

Ryan, who speaks at CPAC on Friday, embodies many of these very tensions. He warns of deficits and debt, but supported the Iraq war, the Bush tax cuts, and the Medicare prescription-drug benefit. He believes in the free market, but voted for the Troubled Assets Relief Program (or TARP). And he now supports comprehensive immigration reform (and maybe even a path to citizenship), but was on a presidential ticket opposing it.

Of course, it's only natural for a party outside the White House to experience an identity crisis. After all, there's no one true leader to unify the different constituencies. And the one unifying force is opposing the president in power -- and that's true whether a Democrat or Republican sits in the Oval Office.

Indeed, after their second-straight presidential loss in 2004, Democrats faced a similar identity crisis. Should it strenuously oppose the Iraq war, or support it? Push for universal health care, or ignore it? Disagree with the Bush-era tax cuts, or call for them to expire?

Yet by the time the Democratic race for president began, the top candidates -- Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, Joe Biden, Chris Dodd, Bill Richardson -- were unified on all the big issues. They opposed the Iraq war; they supported universal health care; they were against the Bush tax cuts. That's why the Democratic primary was fought over the margins (like whether there should be a mandate for health insurance).

And for Republicans, that's the story to watch over the next couple of years. It's one thing for the party to experience an identity crisis in 2013 and 2014. It's another thing -- as Obama prepares to exit office -- to experience that in 2015 and 2016. 

GOProud, a Republican gay-rights group, is still not officially invited to attend CPAC, next week's conservative conference in the D.C. area -- but it will be on site.

Jimmy LaSalvia, GOProud's co-founder and executive director, will be participating in a panel happening at the same time as CPAC, in the same building as CPAC, sponsored by one of the same hosts of CPAC.

The Competitive Enterprise Institute is sponsoring the panel entitled “A Rainbow on the Right: Growing the Coalition, Bringing Tolerance Out of the Closet.” As of this morning, panelists included Fred Smith of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, Liz Mair and Jonah Goldberg.

Today, however, the group added LaSalvia to the group, as well as conservative writers Margaret Hoover and Jennifer Rubin.

LaSalvia is excited to participate, and says his understanding is that CPAC is unhappy with the additions.

The panel is not an official CPAC event, but does appear on the master schedule that will go out to CPAC participants as one of many available options to attend on the first day of the conference -- March 14 -- at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in National Harbor, Md.

“CEI is interested in advancing the cause of smaller government and liberty, and looking for ways to reach out to new constituencies,” says Christine Hall, director of communications for CEI. “To the extent we can partner with groups like GOProud and people who share our values and goals -- we want to be able to do that.”

Hall says that CEI has been a co-sponsor of CPAC for many years, and has not gotten any pushback since making the GOProud addition.

The American Conservative Union, the main group that organizes CPAC, confirmed that.

"CPAC sponsors are provided use of our facilities for a two-hour period during our three-day conference to discuss issues of their choosing. We don’t select nor censor the content of their panels. There is a requirement of all of our participants: civility and decorum toward the host, participating organizations and our guests," said ACU Executive Director Gregg Keller in a statement to NBC News.

GOProud had previously participated at CPAC, but was uninvited this year and last year, sparking controversy among gay-right supporters. CPAC Chair Al Cardenas said in an interview last week that GOProud has acted inappropriately as guests in years past.

Former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney will address CPAC, the annual gathering of conservative activists in Washington, Romney aides confirmed to NBC News.

"This is an opportunity for him to express his appreciation to supporters and friends," one Romney adviser told NBC News about the speech, news of which was first reported by National Review Online.

The speech marks a return to the public spotlight for the former Massachusetts governor, who's kept a low public profile since his loss to President Barack Obama on Nov. 6.

Romney addressed CPAC, the Conservative Political Action Conference, last year; during his speech, he described himself as "severely conservative," a term turned back against him by the Obama campaign during the general election.

CPAC was also where Romney announced his withdrawal as a candidate for president in 2008.

One source said that the date of Romney’s speech has not yet been finalized  The conference runs from March 14 - 16.

Romney’s former running mate, Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., will also be addressing the crowd, as will his former rival for the 2012 Republican nomination, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum.

“The thousands gathered at CPAC this year are eager to hear from the former 2012 GOP presidential candidate at his first public appearance since the elections,” said Al Cardenas, the chairman of the American Conservative Union, which organizes CPAC. “We look forward to hearing Governor Romney’s comments on the current state of affairs in America and the world, and his perspective on the future of the conservative movement.”

This story was originally published on Wed Feb 20, 2013 2:12 PM EST

MESA, Ariz. -- Returning to the campaign trail for the first time since claiming small, if welcome, victories in Maine and at the CPAC straw poll, Mitt Romney tonight unveiled a retooled stump speech in which he drew broad biographical contrasts with his Republican rivals, and devoted more time than usual to his record as Massachusetts governor.

"I'm sure there are some issues here and there where we can point out distinctions," Romney said of his rivals for the GOP nomination. "But perhaps the greatest distinction is what we've done during our lives, our life experiences ... Congressman Paul was a doctor, then went into government, but the other guys have spent their life entirely in government, and in my view it's helpful to have been involved in two businesses, an Olympics and a state ...  and to have a chance to run those as an executive."

"We elected in President Obama someone who had never run anything, who had never been a leader. We're not going to do that in the Republican Party. Let's not nominate someone who hasn't done anything and has not been a leader," Romney continued.

Romney's speech tonight before a crowd of at least two thousand vocal supporters outside Phoenix seemed to build on his address to the CPAC conference in Washington last week, in which he looked to bolster his conservative credentials in large part by highlighting elements of his record as governor of Massachusetts, which traditionally takes a back seat on the stump to his record as a businessman.

Romney ran through a laundry list of accomplishments from his tenure as Massachusetts governor, including everything from balancing budgets and improving the school system -- to more controversial battles like those over illegal immigration and same-sex marriage, which Massachusetts' Supreme Court legalized during Romney's term.

"I led the fight to get an amendment to our constitution to reverse that ruling," Romney said of the court's decision to allow same sex marriage, echoing his CPAC speech. "We missed by one vote. Even in a legislature that's 85 percent Democrat. But we went to make sure that we didn't have our same sex marriage go throughout the country and we were able to enforce -- I think it was a 1913 law -- that kept Massachusetts from becoming the Las Vegas of same sex marriage."

""We made sure we enforced immigration laws by empowering our state police to have the capacity to work with ICE to get those who are here illegally out of our state," Romney told the crowd here to loud applause. That policy, however, was never implemented, as the incoming Democratic administration quickly repealed it after Romney left office.

Romney's speech tonight did not just include new thematic elements, but also continued Romney's news-of-the-day attacks on President Obama. Today, it was the budget in his crosshairs.

"He unfortunately came out with another trillion dollar deficit," Romney said over the boos of the crowd." And if I recall, he said back in his election he said that he was going to cut in half the deficit by the end of the first term. Well he did just the opposite - he doubled it by the end of his first term."

One element of Romney's stump speech not to change? His recitation of his favorite lyrics of "America the Beautiful," which the audience seemed to be expecting. As Romney began to talk about the song, several members of the crowd shouted loudly: "Sing it!

Seeking to affirm his conservative credentials in front of a crowd of Republican activists today, Mitt Romney waged a defense of his time as governor of Massachusetts, declaring, “I was a severely conservative Republican governor.”

“I fought against all odds in a deep blue state,” Romney said.  “But I was a severely conservative Republican governor. I understand the battles we as conservatives must fight, because I have been on the front lines, and expect to be on those front lines again.”

It was a defense of a part of his record that has come under frequent attack during the course of the GOP primary. 

Earlier this morning, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum likened the statewide health care plan Romney launched in 2006 to a "stepchild” of President Obama’s federal program.

Romney’s speech was, in some ways, a vigorous defense of this morning’s broadside from Santorum, who swept a series of primary contests Tuesday night, posing a new threat to Romney’s path to the nomination.

But the defense involved a delicate dance for Romney, who touted his time as governor of Massachusetts, all while railing against career politicians.

“I happen to be the only candidate in this race – Republican or Democrat – who has never worked a day in Washington,” Romney said, adding, “I don’t have old scores to settle, or decades of cloakroom deals that I have to defend.”

“This gathering has always welcomed me,” Romney told the crowd of his record, “and you’ve consistently supported me, not because of my rhetoric, but because of my record in that deep blue state.”

WASHINGTON -- Rick Santorum told an enthusiastic CPAC crowd that he was one of them, drawing contrasts his Republican presidential rivals, whose views he likened to President Obama’s.

"We know each other. We’ve worked together in the vineyards,” Santorum told the activists, stressing their common roots. “We've taken on the tough battles that confront this country. I know you and you know me and that's important because we've worked together.”

"Some say experience is a bad thing in this election. I don't think so. I think knowing the people who are the conservative leaders, knowing the people who have worked in the vineyards for decades, knowing the people who bring the ideas and the breath and the well spring of ideas to conservatism is important,” Santorum added.

The former Pennsylvania senator made his pitch to the activists, who rewarded him with a standing ovation, on the heels of his victories in a trio of nominating contests on Tuesday, upsetting Mitt Romney.

Santorum’s speech Friday was filled with subtle shots at Romney, though few specific mentions of his name. Santorum argued that money alone – a strength of the Romney campaign – isn’t enough to win the election. Republicans need passion, ignited by a conservative nominee, in order to win, he argued.

"As conservatives we lost our heart," he said, speaking of past losses in presidential campaigns. "The lesson we learned is that we will no longer abandon our principles for a hallowed victory in November."

Santorum has spent his time on the campaign trail this week largely focused on Romney and President Obama, with little mention of Newt Gingrich. His attacks at CPAC were clearly intended for Romney, the campaign’s frontrunner.

"We always talk about how we are going to get the moderates.  Why would an undecided voter, vote for a candidate of a party that the party's not excited about?" Santorum said.

He left the direct hits to the man who introduced him, Foster Friess.

The Wyoming billionaire is the chief funder of the "Red, White and Blue Fund" and has been traveling with the inner circle of the campaign -- raising questions about where the line is drawn between candidates ability to interact with their Super PACs  without coordinating.

Today, Friess opened with a joke about a liberal, a moderate and conservative walking into a bar.

The bartender says "Hi, Mitt," the punch line goes.

Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, one of Mitt Romney's highest-value backers, juiced up the CPAC crowd early Friday in advance of the GOP frontrunner's speech to the group, lauding Romney as a "responsible" and "consistent" conservative.

"I believe he's the results-oriented conservative," McDonnell said to some applause in the ballroom, which was filling to the gills largely in anticipation of the next speaker, Rick Santorum.

"He's the guy, whether it's been as governor of Massachusetts, as head of a large private sector company, in turning around the Olympics, he's the results-oriented, can-do, consistent conservative," McDonnell said of Romney.

Listing his candidate's job-creation record, McDonnell added, "That's, to me, the kind of can-do responsible conservative leadership that we need for the United States of America." 

McDonnell's direct reference to his endorsee contrasted with yesterday's omission by former presidential candidates Herman Cain and Rick Perry -- both  of whom neglected to mention their support for Newt Gingrich in their addresses to the crowd.

The popular Virginia governor, who is widely discussed as a vice presidential pick, also offered details about his biography, including his 21 years in the United States Army.

And in a shot at Rick Santorum, he spoke emotionally about his daughter, an Army platoon leader who McDonnell said would call him from Iraq with tales of being under fire from the enemy.

"Yes I did get a little bit emotional. But she didn't," he said. "She got the job done."

He largely veered away from social issues but slammed the president for failing to balance the budget.

"I say Mr. President, take responsibility. You're the commander in chief, get the job done, quit making excuses, let's turn this country around," he said.

He also offered shoutouts to a list of fellow Republican governors who enjoy popularity in among conservative voters despite flagging overall approval ratings, including Govs. Scott Walker and Rick Scott.

Rick Perry's back, and doing his best Clint Eastwood impression.

"If it's halftime in America," he said, invoking the "Dirty Harry" actor's recent appearance in a controversial Chrysler ad during last weekend's Super Bowl --  "I'm fearful of what the final score is going to be if we let this president start the second half as quarterback."

In his second public appearance since dropping out of the presidential race, Perry quipped at today's conservative CPAC gathering that the clock ran out on his own presidential campaign as well.

"Aggies never lose," he said, referencing the mascot of his alma mater Texas A&M. "We just run out of time. So you can say that my presidential campaign just ran out of time. But I haven't run out on the ideas."

While he warned against settling for a new president would would simply "tinker" with existing policies, Perry did not mention any remaining GOP candidates by name.

That omission included Newt Gingrich, whom he endorsed when he dropped out of the race in North Charleston on Jan. 19. Perry also didn't mention the former House Speaker during a speech in Austin last week.

In warmly received remarks to the conservative confab Thursday, Perry revisited many of his rhetorical highlights from his campaign, including populist anti-corruption tones and a harsh critique of President Barack Obama's "war on religion."

The Texas governor won limited traction last year when he slammed the Obama administration for its clashes with Catholic bishops over federal funding, but the issue is now the subject of searing debate after the White House's controversial mandate for most employers to provide copay-free health coverage for birth control prescriptions.