For two days next month, July 9-10, Nevada will be the center of the conservative universe, as the fourth annual Conservative Leadership Conference convenes in Las Vegas - including the next in an ongoing series of candidate debates among the various 2012 GOP presidential contenders.
Cosponsored by my organization, Citizen Outreach Foundation, and Americans for Tax Reform, CLC will bring together some of the leading conservative voices and policy experts from Nevada and around the country. The conference's honorary chairman again this year is Sen. Dean Heller, and will also feature hometown favorites Rep. Joe Heck and Assemblyman Ed Goedhart as speakers.
Delivering the keynote address this year will be blogger extraordinaire, Andrew Breitbart, who in addition to brining the ACORN scandal to national attention in 2009, this month made a huge national splash by, um, exposing Congressman Anthony Weiner who, um, exposed himself in pictures sent to women-not-his-wife on Twitter.
Another crowd favorite, who always brings a little controversy with him wherever he travels, will be "America's Toughest Sheriff," Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who has Nevada roots dating way back to his earliest days as a lawman.
Among those rounding out the national speaking roster will be taxpayer champion Grover Norquist, Wall Street Journal editorial writer John Fund, school voucher advocate Robert Enlow, "Lemonade Stand" author Janie Johnson, health care reform advocate Eric O'Keefe, former Libertarian Party vice presidential candidate Wayne Allyn Root, and the nation's No. 1 opponent to the dreaded "death tax," Dick Patten.
The conference program on Saturday will be moderated by conservative talk-show host Alan Stock of KXNT out of Las Vegas, and will include a Saturday evening cocktail reception/book-signing with a number of conservative authors.
CLC 2011 also will include a conservative awards program which this year will honor Nevada State Sens. Elizabeth Halseth and Michael Roberson, longtime conservative activist Bill Brady, Boulder City Councilwoman Linda Strickland and NPRI's talented young blogger Victor Joecks.
The conference will conclude with a bang on Sunday night with a nationally televised debate between the Republican presidential candidates. The debate will be moderated by Tucker Carlson of The Daily Caller and Grover Norquist. Over 200 bloggers, reporters and columnists are expected to attend and cover the debate.
All of the leading GOP candidates have been invited - including recently announced candidate Jon Huntsman, who was not yet a candidate for the recent New Hampshire debate, and former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson who was not invited to the New Hampshire debate. Most, if not all, are expected to participate.
If you're a conservative in Nevada, the 2011 Conservative Leadership Conference will be the hottest ticket in town and THE place to mix, mingle and rub shoulders with fellow right-leaning travelers. For more information, go to www.CLC2011.com.
• Chuck Muth is president of Citizen Outreach. He may be reached at chuck@citizenoutreach.com.
