Objectivity. Welcome the like to cspan and public radio audiences. Follow the action on twitter npclunch. Introduce our to head table. I would ask each to stand briefly as your name is announced. From your right, kevin, a Committee Member for the vietnam war commemoration. Marcus, a documentary film maker. Washingtonppe, a correspondent for ganett. Secretary of the the air force and a member of the National Press club. Thomas burr, senior washington correspondent for the Salt Lake City tribune and the chairman of board of the National Press club. Jim michaels, military reporter for usa today. Bill ingram, director of the Army National guard. The podium. R donna, a reporter for usa today. The organizer of todays lunch on the Speakers Committee and the 2009 president of the National Press club. Skipping over the speaker momentarily, rachel oswald, a at National Journal news wire. Brigadier general james whitham. Mary french of army magazine. Chief Master Sergeant mitch enlisted advisor t
Republican hopefuls will be there. How do you think that most of this crowd views that . Is there a favorite at this stage . I think our folks that are really the faithbased, grassroots of the party. My sense is that they are the primary electorate writ large. This is kind of all jumbled up. They like ted cruz but they like mike huckabee, they like rick santorum. I think rand paul has got some jazz. I think they will kick the tires and look at the more established frontrunning type candidates. Chris christie will be here this weekend. He will make i believe his First National appearance before a social conservative audience of this type. Are you accepting of him . I think you will get a fair hearing. I think he will make the fair case. Why didnt you invite any elected democrats . Well, i think unfortunately, i have always reached out to democrats. Our agenda is not really partisan if you really look at where we are on Immigration Reform, where we are on education reform. If you look at
Republican hopefuls will be there. How do you think that most of this crowd views that . Is there a favorite at this stage . I think our folks that are really the faithbased, grassroots of the party. If you go back and look at the 2012 collection, they were 51 of all of the votes cast in the primaries. My sense is that they are the primary electorate writ large. This is kind of all jumbled up. They like ted cruz but they like mike huckabee, they like rick santorum. I think rand paul has got some jazz. I think they will kick the tires and look at the more established frontrunning type candidates. Chris christie will be here this weekend. He will make i believe his First National appearance before a social conservative audience of this type. Do you think they are accepting of him . I think you will get a fair hearing. I think he will make the fair case. I think he will make a strong case on the values he has represented in new jersey. Why didnt you invite any elected democrats . Well, i
Is there a favorite at this stage . I think our folks that are really the faithbased, grassroots of the party. My sense is that they are the primary electorate writ large. This is kind of all jumbled up. They like ted cruz but they like mike huckabee, they like rick santorum. I think rand paul has got some jazz. I think they will kick the tires and look at the more established frontrunning type candidates. Chris christie will be here this weekend. He will make i believe his First National appearance before a social conservative audience of this type. Are they accepting of him . I think he will get a fair hearing. I think he will make the fair case. Why didnt you invite any elected democrats . Well, i think unfortunately, i have always reached out to democrats. Our agenda is not really partisan if you really look at where we are on Immigration Reform, where we are on education reform. If you look at where we are in criminal justice. You did not invite any democrats. No, but we have an a
Freedom coalition, ralph reed. Thank you for being with us. Your conference is this weekend. Almost all of the major republican hopefuls will be there. How do you think that most of this crowd views that . Is there a favorite at this stage . I think our folks that are really the faithbased, grassroots of the party. My sense is that they are the primary electorate writ large. This is kind of all jumbled up. They like ted cruz but they like mike huckabee, they like rick santorum. I think rand paul has got some jazz. I think they will kick the tires and look at the more established frontrunning type candidates. Chris christie will be here this weekend. He will make i believe his First National appearance before a social conservative audience of this type. Are they accepting of him . I think he will get a fair hearing. I think he will make the fair case. Why didnt you invite any elected democrats . Well, i think unfortunately, i have always reached out to democrats. Our agenda is not reall