- The Washington Times - Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida will show up at next week’s Conservative Political Action Conference after all, resolving months of tension between the senator’s Republican presidential campaign and American Conservative Union Chairman Matt Schlapp.

“We are grateful that the conservative grass-roots activists at CPAC will have the opportunity hear Sen. Rubio’s message at this important moment in history,” said Mr. Schlapp, whose ACU annually organizes CPAC, the nation’s largest get-together of Republican presidential aspirants, conservative activists, state and federal policymakers, lawmakers, scholars and students.

“Sen. Marco Rubio has a strong conservative record, and I’m honored to call him my friend,” Mr. Schlapp said.

He earlier told Mr. Rubio’s campaign team that he was tired of their stalling since last summer over when the senator would find time in his schedule for a stand-alone speech, along with similar addresses by his nomination rivals.

Mr. Schlapp was George W. Bush’s White House political director who recently took over the ACU-CPAC reins from former Florida Republican Party Chairman Al Cardenas.

A clearly frustrated Mr. Schlapp let it be known publicly this week that he considered the Rubio campaign organization’s dithering over scheduling a sign that the candidate was looking for a way out of the four-day meeting, scheduled for March 2-5 at the National Harbor development just outside Washington.

The implication that CPAC left hanging was that Mr. Rubio did not want to risk being contrasted with CPAC speeches scheduled to be delivered by Donald Trump, Ted Cruz and other rivals for the presidential nomination.

But on Wednesday, Mr. Rubio, who wowed CPAC crowds in earlier appearances, and the ACU worked out the issues and scheduled his appearance for 11:35 a.m. March 5, the Saturday of the convention.

“Sen. Rubio has an ACU Lifetime Rating of 98 percent and is admired by conservative grass-roots activists, many of whom came together to support his election to the U.S. Senate in 2010 and continue to support him today.” Mr. Schlapp said.

In what read like an encomium that could have come out of the Rubio campaign’s press shop, Mr. Schlapp’s statement noted that the “thousands of conservatives who come to CPAC this year will be eager to hear Sen. Rubio’s message on how best to restore our freedoms after seven years of President Obama’s attempts to ’fundamentally transform’ America.”

Ohio Gov. John Kasich initially dismissed the idea of a CPAC appearance but changed his mind and announced this week that he would be part of the Friday lineup of nomination seekers.

• Ralph Z. Hallow can be reached at rhallow@gmail.com.

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