The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

CPAC Day 2: Into the Scrum

Posted on | February 11, 2011 | 17 Comments

Rep. Michelle Bachmann was surrounded by autograph-seeking admirers Friday afternoon in the lobby of the Wardman Park Marriott in one of those spontaneous scrums that occur when GOP celebrities show up at the Conservative Political Action Conference. 

There is an interesting story behind how I ended up in the midst of the Bachmann scrum. About noon, I got a call from a young woman who introduced herself as Kathleen McCaffrey, a Cornell University student who is also a co-blogger at Professor William Jacobson’s Legal Insurrection. Professor Jacobson had told me that his associate would be attending CPAC and so, when she called, I arranged to meet her in the hotel lobby.

When we met in the lobby — “Look for the man in the brown hat” — Miss McCaffrey was accompanied by her friend, Michele Walk, associate editor of The Politicizer, a student-oriented conservative site. “Come to my office,” I said, directing them to the smoking area outside the hotel that functions as my HQ at CPAC. We had been out there about two minutes when we were joined by Ladd Ehlinger Jr., who employed his photographic skills to commemorate the meeting.

Now, it happened that Miss Walk is a student at George Washington University. As soon as she told me that, I said, “Do you know Sergio?” GWU alumnus Sergio Gor is a rising young operative I’ve known since 2007, who now works for — can you guess?

If you guessed Michelle Bachmann, you’re right. So I whipped out my cell phone and called Sergio, who informed me that he and The Boss would be en route to CPAC shortly. “Good,” I said. “Because I’ve got a GWU student here who’s dying to meet you.”

So then we went back into the hotel and, as we walked back through the lobby, we met Ron Robinson, president of the Young America’s Foundation, through whom I had first met Sergio. Introductions were made between Mr. Robinson and the two young ladies. And then, as we walked further along, we came to the Human Events booth where we saw my good buddy Jason Mattera, the former YAF spokesman who has been a buddy of mine since 2006.

We were standing in line to talk to Jason when suddenly, without warning, the Bachmann scrum materialized behind us. I reached into the scrum and tapped Sergio on the shoulder. “Hey, here’s that GW student I was telling you about.” Business cards were exhanged.

Da Tech Guy speaks highly of my social-networking skills. The trick is, rather than seeking to hog up all the important connections yourself, to connect people you already know to other people they don’t know yet. And always remember that today’s nobody may be just one lucky break away from becoming tomorrow’s somebody. Speaking of which, as we continued further down the CPAC corridor, we came across a genuine VIP:

Management of his corporate masters decided that Hot Air’s Ed Morrissey needed to be displayed like a monkey at the zoo: “Look! The blogger in his native habitat!”

Alas, poor Ed. But let this be a lesson to all you other bloggers out there. See what happens when you don’t link me enough?

Category: CPAC, Ed Morrissey, Legal Insurrection, Michele Bachmann

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