delia goncalves is live outside the marriott wardman park with a preview of the big event happening there in just a little while. >> reporter: the conference here at the marriott will be filled with folks eager to hear from some of the top candidates in the race so far. romney, santorum and gingrich will be speaking today. normal show, well, ron paul. decided not to come at all. and that's interesting because it could prove to hurt him after all the three day conservative convention is considered must attend for presidential hopefuls and in fact the 10,000 expect attendees participate in a straw poll results of which will be announced tomorrow. and 2008, cpac essentially killed romney's presidential bid. now he and santorum are hoping the conference will help them seal the deal. >> the president seems to have forgotten that he was elected to lead all americans and that he was elected to be president of the united states, not the "occupy wall street" fan club. >> it starts with us. it starts with a willingness to recognize we're part of a cause that's much greater than ourselves and serve

. >> delia goncalves joins us live from the marriott wardman park in northwest where the whole thing is taking place. good morning delia. >> reporter: good morning, you know all is quiet here at the hotel but in just a few hours this morning things will really heat up. the three day conference here at the hotel is a must attend for the presidential hopefuls. but interestingly enough, the only candidate not attending and not speaking is ron paul. in 2008, mitt romney attended cpac and this unfortunately is where his presidential bid came to an end. but he's hoping this year it will be different and this will secure his standing in the race. the conference comes at a very good time for rick santorum who is still riding on the momentum of his big wins this creek in minnesotaman -- week in minnesota, missouri and colorado. what can folks expect? at least a couple of attacks against president obama. >> the president seems of the forten that he was elected to lead all americans and that he was elected to be president of the united states, not the "occupy wall street" fan club. >> it starts

that's being held at the marriott wardman park hotel. occupy d.c. protesters are vowing to protest outside of the hotel today and tomorrow. >>> before his speech at c pack, romney will speak at the presidential series breakfast with virginia governor mcdonnell in restson. northern virginia has become is -- is becoming a popular campaign destination. president obama will visit virginia gwen to unveil his budget. the white house says the president will pitch his budget at a north virginia community college in annandale, northern virginia community college in annandale. he visited the area twice last week. once to discuss the committee at a fire house and another time to speak about the mortgage and housing crisis at a community center. >>> encouraging economic news out about how much money americans are taking home in their paychecks. cnbc's jackie deangelis has the story. good morning. >>> good morning to you guys. household income is actually on the rise. a new report shows that the median income rose 4% from august to december to just over $51,000.

says it's going to protest today and tomorrow outside the marriott wardman park hotel where this conferences

campaign 2012 candidates, the conservative political action conference begins today at the marriott wardman park. former candidates michele bachmann, herman cain and rick perry will speak today and also speaking virginia attorney general ken cuccinelli who's receiving an awards. rick santorum and mitt romney will be there tomorrow. >>> meanwhile, former virginia governor and current senate candidate tim cain is breaking from president obama. the democrat is criticizing new white house rules which require some religious groups to provide coverage for contraceptives. cain is catholic. republicans and some democrats on the hill are fighting back. they want the white house to allow an opt out clause for groups which say this violates their beliefs. among the opponents speaking out, the roman catholic archdiocese of baltimore. >> this isn't something we can compromise on because it's fundamental to our teachings and we have to be consistent. >> the archdiocese of baltimore covers catholic churches in several counties as well as the western part of maryland. >>> a maryland state senator from our area

if you're at the marriott wardman park even better be in shape one of the masculine discreet and chill your pick mind you're clearly not a pro at. least you know to leave but so that. this entire thing is happening another one says getting a group of discrete guys together from c. pack for a group being in the hotel room and stats and a body and let's do this but the name of the closing speaker in the subject line so i know your real last one by guy it's the pack we're going to meet up with other c. pack by guys mostly interested in oral but more is ok with the right guy why thirty five. very discreet smiley face and stats and photo can host in my room tonight people are getting down at the back well of course they're getting down at sea-tac they get down all the time the only thing is a group thing you know tell room you go if it's a world ok ray that doesn't. even know what half of the stuff mean yeah they have been overthinking it a little bit too much but every one of those advertisements is reading through something about like send a picture so i know you're real and know when you

the conservative political action conference begins today at the marriott wardman park. also speaking virginia attorney attorney ken cuccinelli. >>> the presidential hopefuls are crisscrossing the nation in the wake of tuesday's contests. santorum won the votes in minnesota, missouri and colorado. ling and he's trying to -- and he's trying to point himself as the conservative alternative to mitt romney. while romney is trying to paint the former senator as a d.c. insider. >> we need of the somebody that's going to go out and paint the vision of what america is going to look like versus barack obama. >> newt gingrich and rick santorum they spent -- they spent a lot of time in washington and during their years we spent more money than we were taking in. >> tuesday's triple wins have been big for the santorum campaign. it took in $1 million in just the last 48 hours. >>> speaking of money, at 6:06. jessica doyle is watching yours. >> indeed and apparently this warm winter is good for the checkbooks. >> that's right, it's been a real gift to the bank accounts this year. an e

it's going on now at the marriott wardman park hotel.'s brian mooar is live on capitol hill with more. good morning, brian. >> reporter: good morning, joe. mitt romney's most conservative supporters have been urging him to step up his game. today, it's his chance. he'll be speaking before 10,000 rock-ribbed conservatives. this is a critical chance for rick santorum. he wants to build on the big primary season wins he had earlier in the week. he and newt gingrich are really battling to prove themselves as the most viable conservative in this campaign. romney, he's the one with the most riding on today. he's been struggling to connect with conservatives, and he's expected to explain today a lot of questions about his time as massachusetts governor, his policies in terms of health care and other issues. ron paul, interesting, will not be at the conference. he, you might recall, was the winner of the strong poll the -- straw poll the last two years running. the straw poll this time around is going to be a critical test. new rules. it's inter