Conservative Activists Find Cause to Celebrate at D.C. Gathering

As conservative activists gathered Friday to kick off their Value Voters Summit, they knew they are facing sizable challenges to their political platform: With Democrats in the White House and holding large majorities in Congress, many of social conservatives' top legislative priorities, such as a federal ban on same-sex marriage, are not even on the table for discussion.

Nevertheless, the mood inside the Omni Shoreham Hotel was excited, even electric. Attendees slammed the president's health-care overhaul as "Obamacare," implored Republican members of Congress to oppose it as an unconstitutional use of federal power, and applauded loudly as speakers mentioned the large turnout at last weekend's march on Washington.

"We're winning the argument," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) declared inside the hotel ballroom. "We know that most Americans are common-sense conservatives and that most of the people running our government in Washington are not. . . . We've been calling their agenda what it is. The American people agree with us. And we're starting to see the results."

In his speech to the conference, McConnell said that Republicans are having an effect on the Obama administration's plans for closing the facility holding terror suspects in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and on federal spending. As for the White House's signature domestic initiative, an overhaul of the nation's health-care system, "our impact on the debate is undeniable," he said.

"It's impossible to deny the crowds we saw in August or last week on the National Mall -- despite the best efforts of many in the mainstream media to dismiss the critics. Today, more Americans now oppose the Democrats' plan than support it," McConnell said. Some polls back that assertion, while others suggest a plurality of Americans back the Obama health-care effort.

McConnell pledged to the group that he would look to block any portion of the health-care legislation that would fund abortions, while Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), one of the most vocal conservatives in the House, urged the attendees to call their representatives in Congress and demand that the Obama administration not fund or work with the progressive group ACORN.

Also addressing the conference Friday was former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, a 2008 presidential candidate, and Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, like Huckabee considered a potential candidate in 2012. Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, who also ran in 2008, will address the summit Saturday.

All three are on the ballot in the conference's informal straw poll, which is always closely watched by political mavens as a test of which potential candidate has the backing of this slice of the Republican base.

Also on the ballot are Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.), Texas Gov. Rick Perry, former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum, former House speaker Newt Gingrich, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, Rep. Ron Paul (Tex.) and former Alaska governor Sarah Palin. Of that group, only Pence and Santorum were scheduled to address the conference.

Staff writer Scott Butterworth contributed to this report.