political director domenico montanaro reports on the conservative political action conference or cpaceporter: jeb bush, the former florida governor and current front runner for the republican nomination in 2016, was the highlight of the day. >> i have to show that i care about people and their future. it can't be about the past, it can't be about my mom and dad and brother. >> reporter: he was met with some boos for his support of immigration reform and common core educational standards, but he defended his record. >> i would describe myself as a practicing reform minded conservative, that i've actually done it. >> reporter: another floridian, senator marco rubio, struck out at president obama. >> sometimes you wouldn't know we're an exceptional nation by listening to the president who has described our nation as sometimes being arrogant or dictating terms to others. >> reporter: kentucky senator rand paul's message of smaller- government and a less- interventionist foreign policy is always popular with some of the younger, libertarian activists at cpac. and this year was no different

newshour political director domenico montanaro was there. ♪ o, say can you see >> reporter: welcome tohe republican race for 20-16. >> this is a room full of patriots. >> reporter: texas senator ted cruz is one of more than a dozen republicans thinking about running for president who spoke at the conservative political action conference, better known as c-pac. he fired up the crowd with tough talk on terrorism. >> we need a commander in chief who will actually stand up and defend the usa. we cannot defeat radical islamic terrorism with a president who is unwilling to utter words radical islamic terrorism. >> reporter: despite trailing in early polls, new jersey governor chris christie showed some of the defiance he's famous for. >> if i decide to run for president i'm not worried about what polls say 21 months before we're going to elect the president of the united states. if i decide to run let me tell you one thing-- i will run a hard-fighting campaign where i will fight for hard-working taxpayers of this country. and i'll take my chances on me. >> reporter: for conservatives looking