GOP just wanna have fun

At last week’s Conservative Political Action Conference, the College Republicans (all 3,000-plus of them) were more tame compared to last year’s rowdy bunch. This may have been because, following some ruckus at last year’s CPAC that got largely blamed on the Maine College Republicans, some hotels were less willing to accommodate the youngsters.

Although several college students were busted bringing alcohol into the Omni Shoreham Friday night, one security guard for the hotel told Yeas & Nays that the weekend went by rather smoothly.

“There was some disorder in the rooms,” he said. “There were a few noise complaints and there were parties with alcohol, but no big fights or anything like that.”

Boooooring ...

For nightlife Thursday, most students turned their sights to the Hawk ‘n’ Dove, where the D.C. College Republican Federation hosted a party called D.C. Fest. On Friday, the College Republican National Committee’s party at Top of the Hill was the place to be. Others in the hotel trolled the hallways both nights looking for a great room party. Rumors floated Friday night that such a party could be found in Suite 680, but it was soon discovered that longshot presidential candidate John Cox was staying in that room (Come on, John: What better way to win the youth vote?!?).

And, no, these kids didn’t see any hypocrisy in their hard partying and their support of the party of “family values.” Said one: “Yeah, I’m a conservative, but I’m a college student, too.” Said another: When it comes to partying, “these conservatives quickly become social libertarians.”

And proving that no weekend is complete without your standard college prank, a stink bomb was set off in the hotel’s lobby Friday afternoon. Somewhere, Beavis and Butthead are totally proud.

‘Sounds’ of victory

Successful presidential campaigns pay attention to the details and that was certainly the case when it came to determining which song would be played when each presidential wannabe took to the stage at the CPAC conference. Yeas & Nays chatted with a source close to the planning of the music, who let us know the story behind the song selections and how various campaigns reacted.

Mitt Romney: “...we had a little trouble with his campaign...”

DJ's RECOMMENDATIONS: Theme song from TV Show “Flipper;” theme from “Star Wars”

WANTED: Orchestral version of “Come Fly With Me” (unavailable); Olympic fanfare theme (unavailable)

USED: Tom Petty’s “Runnin’ Down A Dream”

Rudy Giuliani: “...the easiest of them all ...”

WANTED/USED: “New York, New York”

Sam Brownback: “...one of the best selections in terms of crowd reaction...”

WANTED/USED: Survivor’s “Eye of the Tiger”

Mike Huckabee: “...the candidate who most clearly knew what he wanted and picked it...”

WANTED/USED: Rolling Stones’ “Start Me Up”

Duncan Hunter:

WANTED: The Marine Corps Hymn (unavailable)

USED: “Stars and Stripes Forever”

Tom Tancredo:

WANTED/USED: Theme song from “Rocky”

Jim Gilmore:

WANTED/USED: Queen’s “We Will Rock You”

Our source told us that the theme song to “Rocky” and Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the U.S.A.” were easily the most requested songs by all speakers during the three-day event. But perhaps the funniest song selection went to former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, who came out to Chumbawumba’s “Tubthumper,” which features the following chorus: “I get knocked down / but I get up again / you ain’t ever gonna keep me down.”

Hillary and Dean are a real steal

The most popular politicians at this weekend’s Conservative Political Action Conference in Woodley Park may not have been Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani (who placed first and second, respectively, in the conference’s straw poll). It turns out that Howard Dean and Hillary Clinton proved quite appealing as well.

StopHerNow.com, a Web site dedicated to preventing a Hillary win in 2008, had a hard time hanging on to the cardboard cutout caricatures of both Clinton and Dean they propped up near their exhibition booth.

After they went missing on Friday, security at the Omni Shoreham hotel found them Saturday and returned them to their owners. And considering that the hotel hosted 5,000-plus die-hard conservatives over the weekend, it’s amazing that the cutouts of these liberal icons were found virtually unscathed.

Mitt Romney flips the flip-flopper?

Mitt Romney might have won the straw poll at the Conservative Political Action Conference, but that doesn’t mean his time at the Omni Shoreham was easy. Trailing him was “Flip Romney,” a guy in a dolphin suit hoping to convince others that the former Massachusetts governor had changed positions on myriad issues. But the Romney campaign took a “love your enemies” approach with “Flip” and it almost worked. Although “Flip” remained steadfast in his position that Romney was a flip-flopper, he did tell Yeas & Nays, “I will say this: The Romney campaign guys are very, very nice.”

And clearly “Flip” didn’t completely turn Mitt off to sea creatures: Romney was spotted later that evening dining with Jack Kemp and Vin Weber at McCormick & Schmick’s seafood restaurant on K Street. Romney picked up the tab, which is probably a good thing: Kemp recently told Fox News that he was going to wait and assess each candidate personally before making his selection. Did Romney’s McCormick & Schmick’s meeting go well? Oysters might very well be aphrodisiacs, but who knows if that comes into play with political endorsements.

Giuliani’s preferential treatment

Although each presidential wannabe was told to keep their remarks at the CPAC conference to 30 minutes (and conference organizers had a clock on hand to keep them honest), the rules were dropped for one speaker — Rudy Giuliani — who easily eclipsed the speaking times of all other candidates with his nearly hour-long address.

Curiously, no clock was started when Giuliani began his remarks and, when event organizers were questioned about this, they told our source that it was “not an accident” that Giuliani was being given free reign. “Strict orders” were passed down from the CPAC bosses to ignore the clock for Giuliani, according to our source.

Kristin Laubach and Charles Repine contributed to this page.