Denying that the inclusion of GOProud, a gay Republican group, has anything to do with his decision, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) has announced that he won't be attending this year's CPAC conference:
The newly-elected lawmaker will be focused on his Senate duties that week then "return to Florida for a working weekend capped off by the Pinellas County Lincoln Day Dinner," on Feb. 12, spokesman Alex Burgos told the Buzz.
Oh, sure. Because everyone knows that a Senator can't take an hour out of his busy schedule to zip four miles down the road for a chance to get in front of a room full of supporters and cameras.
Rubio joins a large number of conservative groups and Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) in skipping the event, although they all at least had the courage of their bigotry and admitted why they weren't going.
As for CPAC, well, besides the scrambling all these cancellations must be causing for their scheduler, it's keeping their conference masthead designer busy. Here's it is as of 11:00 (EST):
... and forty-minutes later:
Who will be missing next?