PPA will be attending the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington D.C. again this year. Info on the event is at http://cpac2012.conservative.org.

The conference will be Feb. 9th - 11th in Washington, D.C., at the Marriott Wardman Park. I'll be there, as will John Pappas, Drew Lesofski, and Greg Raymer. We'll have a booth in the exhibition hall. I hope everyone in the area will drop by and say "hi".

I'll be flying to Washington D.C. shortly to represent poker players at this year's Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). Should be interesting!

good luck TE. Hopefully you;ll have a trip report and pics when you come back

You have your work cut out for you this year. The Conservative GOP presidential trend seems ANTI-ipoker, at least publicly.

Can you set a goal of getting one or two prominent Conservatives to endorse Federal or State legislation, publicly, at the Conference ?

(I mean someone new, other than Representative Joe "Highway to Nowhere" Barton.).

I'd come say hi but CPAC terrifies me.

.... then don't turn on the television this morning for primary caucus results from Tuesday.

Tell me about it.

Maybe you can sneak over to the Indian Affairs Committee at lunch

start screaming and raving about how Obama banned a great American pastime because poker so greatly mimics capitalism.

they love that ****

^ hahaha

As usual, if you need anything while you are in town--just let me know.

I'm actually going to attend the Indian Affairs Committee hearing. I'm looking forward to Patrick delivering our message loud and clear!

Thanks Berge!

Anything interesting come from this visit?

Just read that Stephen Sandstorm from Utah will be speaking tomarrow at the CPAC at 3:30. TE and Skall can do what is needed to influence him.

Thanks for noticing that. I'll let the DC-based folks know.

Saturday at 3:30 is the quietest time here, so it will be a quiet time for him. I'll actually be on a plane home when he starts, unfortunately, and Patrick is already home.

I'll be on QuadJacks, live from CPAC, in a few minutes.

From QJs:

Trip report:



Almost everyone who spoke with us was supportive. Greg Raymer was on hand to sign autographs and to talk about our issue to attendees. A couple of people did want to debate the tired talking points from a half-century ago, but I made short work of that.

We did a lot of media relations, both mainstream and poker. I broadcasted my OnTilt Radio show from there live, did an interview with QuadJacks from there as well, and did a wrap-up interview with Short Stacked Radio.

Greg Raymer and I were interviewed by Voice of America for a broadcast in China. The reporter was very interested in how Americans can organize and stand up for their rights against laws they'd like to see changes. She said that doesn't happen in China. It's sad that too few Americans will make the stand IMO, but I'm proud that so many of us are. Here's are a couple of pictures from the interview:


The Senate Indian Affairs Committee hearing went very well too. Patrick "Skallagrim" Fleming was invited to testify before the committee, which was outstanding for us as a community to have one of our own invited before that body. Being silent in the run-up to UIGEA certainly didn't earn us an opportunity to testify before the Senate.

Contrary to the random thoughts a couple of posters here have posted, everyone whom we spoke with on Capitol Hill was very impressed with the grassroots social media advocacy of the poker community. It was apparent throughout the hearing that they were well aware of the support for online poker.

Afterwards, we hosted a joint happy hour with Americans for Tax Reform:

Pretty awesome TR!!! I hope we can meet sometime in the future when you're in DC.

Where was the Happy Hour?

Thanks! Yes, I hope we can do that next time I'm there.

Murphy's, right by the Marriott Wardman Park.

Has Americans for Tax Reform come out publicly to support any piece of online poker legislation ?

("Americans for Tax Reform", why is that familiar ? Anyone have a copy of Casino Jack available ? )

They came out publicly in support of delaying implementation of the UIGEA regulations, against the Minnesota plan to force ISPs to block online poker sites, against the KY governor's efforts to sue online poker and gaming sites civilly, and other actions. Grover Norquist spoke with Poker News Daily on this (here and here). I interviewed him once as well (here).

Stepping away from all gaming issues would have been easy way out for Norquist. Many GOP lawmakers did just that in the wake of the Abramoff scandal. To his credit, Norquist stood by his principles and publicly supported our right to play. He has congressmen like Frank Wolf whining about it (here), and he continues to stand up for this.

My QJs interview is up: http://www.pokertube.com/ChannelFilms.aspx?movie=18861

While any enemy of Frank Wolff is an auto-friend of ours, is Mr. Norquist paid by anyone you know of to "represent" internet gaming as Mr. Wolff charges ?