PPA will have a booth at this year's Conservative Political Action Conference. I'm flying to D.C. tomorrow morning to pitch in. I think it's important for poker players to present our conservative bonafides there.

I -- with the help of some great editing from some 2+2ers -- wrote up a handout on why conservatives should wish to protect poker rights. I'll post it here once finalized. While it will be nice if we can change some minds, getting folks there to see that we have a legitimate point of view will go a long way, IMO.

I'll keep everyone up to date on the events of the convention.

GOOD luck and keep up the great work. Let us all know how it went. We'll be awaiting some good news, hopefully.

Am I wrong but didn't the Republicans lose in the last election? Why would the PPA be pandering to them now?

Will the PPA be doing the same with the democrats?

I would contend that since the Republicans in general are more likely to oppose legalized and regulated online poker that this is exactly the crowd that the PPA would want to make its case to. Not a lot of point in preaching to the choir.

The GOP lost, but didn't lost every seat in Congress. We need all the support we can get. I have no idea how that is pandering. If I didn't think it was worth the effort, I wouldn't be burning a few vacation days to go there.

The PPA has substantially engaged the Democrats and will continue to do so.

A vote is a vote is a vote. There are plenty of Democrats who will probably never be persuaded to vote how we'd like them to (see the recent thread on Diane Feinstein). I also like to pretend that the democrats are our friends and the republicans aren't. On most issues, given my opinion on the issue, that is true. But it is never that cut-and-dried, especially where poker is concerned.

Given the results of the last election Republican lawmakers who continue to hold office might be more open to our concerns. TE has made a good case in the past that a true conservative agenda would be pro poker player's rights. This seems like an excellent venue to continue that crusade.

I think "pandering" may have been a bad word choice GRIZZ - we need EVERY vote here - do I reallly care if it is red or blue? The UIEGA got passed as an earmark on a Port Security bill - how many dems would EVER have voted against that?? If we learned nothing else it is that we MUST get involved to protect our rights.

ENGINEER - I applaud your efforts and wish to express my personal thanks - I often travel to DC for business but unfortunately not this week. DAMN - I would have liked to pop in and meet you.

I must confess to being a left leaning Dem so the roof may well have caved in upon my entrance.

MKAP

BTW - How long until that "newbie" label gets removed?

I'm with you (a left leaning dem who applaud's TE's efforts with conservative groups). As far as the Newbie label, it is explained here:

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/fa...tch#faq_titles

Looks like 12 more posts until you're an "enthusiast".

Will try to connect with you TE

PIECE OF CAKE!!!!

MKAP

Just to continue with some of the thoughts expressed in this thread, the PPA does believe it is very important to have open dialogue with the full political spectrum -- from far right to far left and everything in between. CPAC is a great venue for us to not only reach the more libertarian minded side of the Republican party, but also show the social-cons that we are to be taken seriously and we have a message that resonates with true conservatives.

TheEngineer will be a great help as we evangalize our pro freedom message. Greg Raymer (a self proclaimed libertarian) will also be with us at CPAC tomorrow doing an autograph signing and meetings with media and others.

And to be sure, the PPA is looking at our attendance at some of the leading progressive conferences this year as well.

John A. Pappas
Poker Players Alliance

Great! Look forward to meeting with you.

Thanks!

Sorry we didn't get a chance to meet up. Next time we're in town at the same time, we'll have to do so.

Update: My wife and I arrived in D.C. a couple of hours ago with no issues. We're staying near the Omni Shoreham - the location of the both the last PPA Fly-In and of CPAC. We're close enough to easily walk there from here, so that's convenient. We're going to head to the PPA office shortly.

I sitll think that you should have kept the "heads up for rollz" challenge in it.

Also, Mykidzapro you could get a custom title like all the cool kids have.