Representatives from various social conservative organizations spoke at Steve King’s Conservative Principles PAC Conference to an audience of 550 on Saturday. Panel participants included: Emmett McGroarty of American Principles Project, Connie Mackey of Family Research Council, Former Congresswoman Marilyn Musgrave (R-CO) of Susan B. Anthony List, and Brian Brown of National Organization for Marriage. You can watch the panel discussion below.
MSNBC’s First Read reported on McGroarty’s response to Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour’s "main thing" comment which garnered a positive response from the audience.
Barbour focused largely on the economy.
"The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing," Barbour joked, adding, "and the main thing is economic growth."
Barbour was generally well received, and earlier in the week, he showed no qualms in expressing his emotion on the issue of abortion. But with Iowa being a caucus state dominated by social conservatives, some attendees in the hallways and in the audience questioned that focus.
Another speaker, Emmett McGroarty, on a panel on family values, wrapped his speech by with what appeared to be a mild shot at Barbour. He said social-conservative values are part of "the main thing, and that’s the main thing I’m focused on today."
That drew a mix of laughs and applause.
As he’s said before, Barbour stressed that the presidential election needs to be about policy, "because these are the wrong policies. … These policies make it harder to create jobs."
As I have said before, Governor Barbour has to overcome his social conservative problem, and he didn’t help himself on Saturday.
**Thanks to Eric Goranson for videoing the panel discussion.