After a full 24 hours of CPAC detox, it's time to climb out from behind the giant pile of conservative swag here in the office and share the big findings I gleaned from my undercover work.

Of course, since I spent the three days basically making fun of conservatives, I feel obligated to include a disclaimer--the vast majority of people I spoke with at CPAC were polite and friendly, eager to share stories etc. One sponsor even shared his umbrella with me on my way to the hotel on Saturday since it was snowing. BUT--when these polite, friendly people give repeated standing ovations to hate speech like that of Ann Coulter on Friday, their niceness justifiably pales in my mind.

Something that came up over and over again is the divide between social conservative and more libertarian conservatives--people who hype conferences like this want us to think that conservatives are one big monolithic and therefore intimidating voting block. While it's true that as voters, they're a force to be reckoned with, there are deep divisions within the group that could rupture if we apply some careful pressure. For instance, in the CPAC straw poll that seemed to be given to mostly college-aged attendees, one of the questions asked the attendee to identify which of two options came closest to their "core beliefs and ideology." 51% of respondents cited the promotion of "individual freedom by reducing the size and scope of government," while 45% identified more with the promotion of "traditional values by protecting traditional marriage and protecting the life of the unborn." To me, the even distribution of these two choices reflects deep divisions within the conservative movement--when push comes to shove, is it more important to them to have low taxes or not see two dudes kissing? The immigration division was also clearly visible, but that's a whole separate post right there.

In a rather ironic twist, campus conservatives are now far less scary to me than before CPAC. Since I go to a pretty conservative school, I'm used to hearing about the nationwide movement that's resulting in more conservative student bodies. There might be some truth to that since it's not the 60s anymore and there are far less hippies on most campuses--but if the conservatives are being organized by the kids at CPAC, I can rest assured that progressives can compete and win on campuses. As I said before, I was largely unimpressed by all their hype--as long as we start working together and utilizing resources available to us, there's no reason for progressives to worry about some mass conservative movement. It's simply not threatening.

And, of course, the free stuff. Check out the pictures to see the mountain of swag we scored, as well as some particularly creative conservative get-ups--at times, I wasn't sure if I was at a Halloween party or a convention. Although it was at times hard to stomach CPAC, it was a lot easier to cope with this stuff once I returned to reality. After recovering from the at-times overwhelmingly disagreeable messages that were poured into my head throughout the conference, I'm still confident that we're on the winning team--that is, as long as we have equally cool free stuff on our side.

Progressively yours,
Annika Carlson
Hope College

Annika "Conventionette" Carlson and Adam "Conventioneer" DeDent pose with the swag as Adam receives the healing touch of President Bush, and Ann Coulter contemplates feasting on Annika's soul.

Our intrepid bloggers buried in swag, including several dozen magazines & pamphlets, dozens of stickers, and more buttons than an entire TGI Friday's staff.

The Spanish version of a "I'm a Condista!" sticker handed out by one of the many... many Condi '08 backers. "Soy Condista" sounds like a food additive.

Alrighty then.

This isn't even the total accumulation. It's just what fit on the desk. Anyone want a button? We've got three dozen.