you noted that the topic hadn't been broeched. tell us more about that. >> reporter: we've had a lot of speakers here. we've had five potential republican candidates and a lot of those speakers, tlfrp only two people whose names i didn't know before i came here that spoke about gay marriage. rick santorum didn't and that was striking because we had rulings across the country that legalized gay marriage. and republicans here when i talk to them, we feel like we've lost this issue. gay marriage will become legal in the country and we need to move to a different ground. we're not going to win the gay marriage battle. which is a striking concession. ten years ago george bush was running for president on a gay marriage ban and they put all of these gay marriage bans on states to turn out conservative voters. ten years later we have this event, the signature social conservative event of the year, no mention of gay marriage at all. >> in a room filled with a lot