at the conference. >> reporter: we are here at cpac the largest gathering of conservatives in the country more than a dozen presidential hopefuls have turned out this week to do a little message testing as well as ming -- mingle with the grass roots faithful, this was founded in 1973. in recent years the likes of president george w. bush and vice president cheney have addressed this group. perhaps no politician has had a bigger impact on putting his comments on the map than ronald reagan. he spoke to them more than 10 times. how important is this conference? we caught up with its chairman who first took the job in 1984, but is stepping down this year after 27 years on-the-job. >> cpac over the years has grown and has become an iconic political event. not just for the movement, but for the whole society. it gives people on the outside