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Conservatives see boom times in the immediate future

Charlton Heston
Heston: "For the first time in a long while, I can say, 'president.' without dreading the name that follows."  

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- At the annual Conservative Political Action Conference last week in a Washington suburb, the stalwarts of the right had not been so upbeat since Ronald Reagan was in the White House.

"For the first time in quite a long while, I can say, 'president,' without dreading the name that follows," said National Rifle Association President Charlton Heston, to laughter and applause.

George W. Bush is indeed a hit with this group.

Sen. Jesse Helms, R-North Carolina, said, "Let's talk about something pleasant. How do you like George Bush as a president?"

"CPAC" is 28 years old. It consists of a "who's who" of the conservative movement: Helms, Heston, Tom DeLay, Oliver North.

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Back in 1981, Ronald Reagan made a triumphant appearance at CPAC, giving one of his first speeches as president.

This year a straw poll of CPAC attendees found George W. Bush has emerged as a conservative hero in his own right, with a favorable rating of 96 percent, bested only by his vice president, Dick Cheney, viewed favorably by 97 percent.

A decade ago CPAC was a hotbed of discontent over another President Bush, whom many conservatives saw as a tax-hiking sellout. The star then was Pat Buchanan.

"We need a new American revolution here in the United States," Buchanan said in 1991. "And I'm sorry, I know there are some Bush-Quayle people here. But we have to do to George the First, the big government Republican, what our forefathers did to George the Third and his big government Tories.

Times change. Buchanan is now viewed unfavorably by nearly 60 percent of the CPAC crowd, and Bush the Second is a star.

This year's straw poll also showed Bush's top issue is tops with this crowd -- 23 percent said tax cuts is the single-most important issue, out-polling everything else, including banning abortion, which only 8 percent called the top issue.

Cheney, representing the president last Thursday, talked up tax cuts but avoided hot-button issues such as abortion and gun control.

John Ashcroft
Ashcroft calls for President Clinton's resignation during the Lewinsky scandal in 1998. Today, he is the star of Bush's Cabinet by CPAC.  

"This president and this administration are going to change the tone on the city of Washington," Cheney said Thursday night.

For this crowd, however, changing the tone cannot mean compromising principles. Stepping into character as Andrew Jackson, Heston offered some advice.

"President Bush, stand firm as a mossy oak tree," Heston said. "Remember, one man with courage makes a majority."

That point was echoed by Jesse Helms.

"You love America and you refuse to go along with those architects of compromise who always want to get along by going along," Helms told the audience.

George W. Bush is more popular with conservatives than his father was because they believe his moderate rhetoric is balanced by with conservative actions.

"Conservatives are ecstatic at the way he's performed since the election," said David Keene of the American Conservative Union. "He's selected a Cabinet that is as conservative or more conservative than the early Reagan cabinets."

A nearly unanimous 98 percent of the CPAC audience approves of the Bush Cabinet.

And the star of that Cabinet to the CPAC crowd is John Ashcroft, who made a splash at CPAC three years ago as the first senator to call for President Clinton's resignation after the Monica Lewinsky story broke.

"When John Ashcroft was nominated for attorney general, the left came unglued," said Bush adviser Karl Rove.

"If these allegations are true, you have disgraced yourself, you have disgraced this country, you have disgraced the office, and you should leave," Ashcroft said in 1998, addressing his remarks to Clinton in absentia.

This year CPAC had an award for Ashcroft, but he was no-show; Jesse Helms accepted on his behalf. Ashcroft's spokesperson said the attorney general did not want to appear at a political gathering because, "He does not want this department to be perceived as political."

Bush's popularity with conservatives comes as he is proposing an agenda they like. Far less certain is whether that popularity will last if he has to compromise to get his agenda through a Congress where Republicans hold only a narrow majority.



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