Surprises at CPAC: Straw Poll and Glenn Beck’s Chalkboard

The annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) 2010 was anything but conservative. Whenever I hear the term “conservative,” I think of boring, old-fashioned, old school, and cautious; none of which are any fun. Viewer ratings would definitely be on a downslide. However, when you add something like a popular chalkboard into the mix, things begin to get exciting.

Glenn Beck was invited to speak at this year’s event and his chalkboard got a standing ovation. It makes a statement when people are so exasperated and frustrated with politics and the economy that they treat a chalkboard as if it should have its own footprint out in front of Grauman's Chinese Theatre.

A whole new fan club got started on Facebook:
Can Glenn Beck's Chalkboard Get More Fans Than Ann Coulter?

The ad-hoc straw poll that was taken at CPAC 2010 showed Ron Paul commanding 32% of the popularity vote, while Ann Coulter got a chip off the old straw. The one on her shoulder kept bashing Obama and MSNBC during her speech. Of course, everybody just chalked that off as sour grapes; someone, who would probably love a job at the White House. I believe she might even become one of those "liberals" for a shot at Janet Napolitano’s job at Homeland Security. She has an impressive 6,000 fans on Facebook. Not a bad percentage considering America is 309 million strong, with about 131 million voters. The odds are good that Glenn Beck's chalkboard can beat that.

There were two other surprise speakers this year: former Vice President Dick Cheney and Senator Scott Brown (R-MA); Mushroom syndrome and Cosmo.

According to The Washington Times there were roughly 10,000 people registered for the event. About 2,400 of them voted in the straw poll. “more than half of those who voted were under the age of twenty-five," the Times said. I take that as a good indication that our next generation is developing an interest in something other than Coors and Corvettes.