Darlene Hooley is not running for reelection. This opens doors for the GOP.

Hooley’s retirement means that a second congressional district in Oregon could be represented by a Republican. She represents Oregon’s Fifth Congressional District, which runs from south Portland to Corvallis and west to the coast. She has held the district — which has about 5,000 more registered Republicans than Democrats — by focusing on addressing the concerns of her constituents.

While Hooley has been able to capture enough nonaffiliated voters to hold onto her seat, she has never won in a landslide. In 2006 she won 54 percent of the vote against Erickson. In comparison, Democratic Rep. Earl Blumenauer, in the much safer Third District, received more than 73 percent.

The Oregonian

Unlike many predicted, McCain was not booed. The crowd went wild, over and over again. The introductions by Senator Allen and Senator Coburn set the tone for the speech.

McCain positioned himself here not as as a Republican stalwart, but as a man independent of his party on issues that matter to conservatives. He pointed out that he opposed Medicare part D, that he has opposed spending increases and earmarks, that he has been strong on limited government.

The general mood here seems to be that while McCain isn’t great, we can accept him as the nominee. There will be no revolt among the conservative movement… with one major question still ahead of us:

Who will McCain choose as his runningmate?

Who he selects will send a message to the conservative movement of whether he takes us for granted or whether he acknowledges a need to reassure us about his candidacy. There are a number of great conservatives who would make fantastic Vice-Presidential nominees. There are also a number of RINOs who would be absolutely terrible.

I’ve been told that certain leaders of the conservative movement will begin campaigning tomorrow for McCain to select a movement conservative as the Vice-Presidential nominee. The conservative blogosphere can use this as an opportunity to get involved in an organized manner behind a candidate.

3:10 - George Allen is speaking now, offering a very strong endorsement of McCain.
(Of course, three weeks ago he was still Fred Thompson’s National Co-Chairman)

3:12 - Allen introduces Tom Coburn

3:13 - Coburn speaking. Him and Allen standing side by side for McCain makes an incredibly strong case for McCain to this audience.

3:14 - “unique blend of character, guts, determination, and experience”

3:14 - Coburn just hit Bush hard, basically saying that on spending McCain will be the better President

Full quote:

“The fact is we have not had a President these last eight years willing to take on Democrats *and* Republicans in Congress to cut wasteful duplicate spending.”

(Thanks Redstate)

3:18 - Coburn praises McCain for opposing the Prescription Drug bill. (Remember Romney hit him on this in the run-up to the Florida primary)

3:19 - Coburn says McCain will support strict constructionist judges. I certainly hope he’s right.

3:20 - The TV went out. I’ll resume liveblogging when it starts working again. Erick Erickson appears to be on it.

Redstate has the full speech McCain will give available here - Redstate. I’m going to go watch.

With Romney out, and Hillary Clinton’s campaign out of money and having trouble competing in caucus states, it looks like the general election will be between John McCain and Barack Obama. Though it will take a while for the Democratic nomination to be sorted out, that will be the ultimate result.

He’s speaking now. Trying to give a broad speech about conservatism and the greatness of America. It seems like its preparation for the VP nomination or a 2012 candidacy. Not a “thank you for your support” speech. Focusing on the attacks on American culture and values.

Redstate has more details, I missed the first part of the speech.

UPDATE: Romney is clearly running in 2012. He alluded to similarities between his campaign and Reagan’s in 1976. He says he’s dropping out to make it easier for us to win in November…. “will stand aside for my party and my country” and “will continue to stand for conservative principles.”

That’s what sources inside the campaign heavily hint at.

He speaks every year. Usually, he’s the biggest speech of the conference, but with John McCain this afternoon and the President here tomorrow he’s not quite the main event.

Cheney mentions that Bush will be here tomorrow…

11:01 - Final year in office, revitalize America’s economy…

11:02 - Believes in a government that keeps to its limits, defends people, values & interests

11:05 - Letting Bush tax cuts expire “would be one of the largest government money-grabs in American history”

11:28 - Cheney just finished. Sorry I ended the liveblogging, it was hard to hear so i went and found free stuff. Koch is giving away free mini basketballs and hoops, and the Sam Adams Alliance has bobblehead dolls of … Sam Adams.

McCain and Romney’s people are out in force here at CPAC. The Romney campaign are clearly focusing on getting as many stickers on people as possible to demonstrate an overwhelming amount of support here. The McCain campaign, on the other hand, is a little quieter.

I went by and picked up a McCain sticker at their booth a few minutes ago. Yes, as I wrote yesterday, between Romney and McCain I have to go with McCain. But not enthusiastically.

McCain’s reception today could be a major test for his candidacy. I think he has more to gain then to lose. I think I read this somewhere a few days ago, so forgive me if I didn’t cite you, but basically if he gets a good reception its a win because he will have proven that conservatives won’t reject him. If he gets a poor reception it will be a win because the spin will be he was gutsy in coming to the conference knowing the attendees didn’t love him.

Either way, it will certainly have an impact on what the media buzz is surrounding him between now and the next set of primaries.

My guess is the reception will be somewhere in between. A lot of conservatives will support him, not because they like him, but because they dislike Romney and Huckabee more.

And set up on blog row. The program begins at 10AM, and Vice-President Cheney is speaking shortly after.

Have already run into six or seven people I know.