First thoughts at CPAC 2010

CPAC this year is estimated to have 10,000 attendees, a thousand more than last year. It has come a long way since my brother worked there in the late 1990's, when 800 would show up. The exhibition hall has around 100 booths, every conservative organization from the John Birch society to an organization promoting the liberalization of poker laws. Surprisingly, there was a booth for "GO Pride," a gay travel agency, which was located far away from the booth for the Sanctity of Marriage.

There are a couple of cool lounges to hang out at during the conference. Since 10,000 people cannot possibly fit into the Marriott's largest room, some organizations have set up lounges outside of it. For $15 ($20 at the door), the younger hipper attendees at CPAC can attend XPAC. XPAC is put on by the actor Stephen Baldwin and his co-host Kevin McCullough of Xtreme Radio.

Victory Solutions is hosting a technology lounge known as The VSO that will feature prominent politicos throughout the conference stopping by to chat. Mitt Romney will be stopping by after his speech at 2pm and I expect to interview him and post the video later today. Victory Solutions' VoIP phone banking services helped with the Scott Brown victory in Massachusetts.

Live coverage of CPAC can be found streaming from townhall here. Follow twitter coverage at #cpac10. VSO's coverage is at #thevso (which I have running on my website intellectualconservative.com). Bloggers have set up #bloggerbash to discuss their party.