Conservatives are converging on the Colorado Convention Center in downtown Denver this weekend for the 6th annual Western Conservative Summit hosted by Colorado Christian University’s Centennial Institute.
The Summit boasts an extensive slate of high-profile speakers — politicians, policy makers, media personalities — and is expected to attract 4,000 people from 40 different states according to a press release.
Presidential candidates including Ben Carson, Carly Fiorina, Mike Huckabee, George Pataki, Rick Perry and Rick Santorum as well as presumed candidate Scott Walker are all headlining the event. After their speeches, they’ll be grilled by columnist Bryon York and talk-show host Hugh Hewitt.
Every year since 2011 the Summit conducts a presidential straw-poll to get a feel for which candidates the attendees like and why. Ahead of the 2016 presidential election, the Western Conservative Summit straw poll will be of special interest to political observers in the West — especially here in swing-state Colorado.
The Summit also holds workshops billed as “a chance to get training and tips on making a difference at the grassroots, or to dig deeper on important issues not addressed in WCS15 plenary sessions.” Topics include race, faith, electoral and media strategies, education reform, lessons from the left and much more.
Rabbi Zalman Popock will lead the Summit’s first-ever Shabbat on Friday night and Sunday morning, the Outdoor Sportsman Group-Networks will host a gun debate between author and conservative journalist Katie Pavlich and progressive talk-radio host Mark Levine.
The Colorado Independent will be there for the whole rodeo so stay tuned for updates.
Photo credit: YoTuT, Creative Commons, Flickr.
