The apathy toward Romney is born of a desire to turn the page. Romney gets B-list treatment at CPAC

Indifference awaits Mitt Romney Friday at the Conservative Political Action Conference as he delivers his first public speech since election night.

The base moved on four months ago, and most Republican activists don’t really care what their failed nominee thinks any more.


The apathy that pervades the halls at the Maryland resort hosting the meeting is born not so much from hostility as a desire to turn the page.

( Also on POLITICO: Mitt Romney at CPAC: ‘Learn from my mistakes’)

During the heat of the 2012 primaries, CPAC is where Romney described himself as a “ severely conservative governor” in an ad-libbed effort to shore up his right flank that only raised fresh doubts about his authenticity.

“He’s kind of last year. I’m ready for some new blood,” said Laurie Pettengill, 55, a former New Hampshire state representative. “The Beltway doesn’t want to let go of a lot of things … You shake your head and say, ‘C’mon!’”

Pettengill supported Newt Gingrich in the first-in-the-nation primary but backed Romney after he secured the nomination. Now she talks with friends about what might have been.

“People have a little bit of anger that he never went after the jugular. He is a nice gentleman [but] there wasn’t enough fight,” she said. “Newt just knows how to pounce.”

( WATCH: Full CPAC video coverage)

Several attendees shrugged when asked about the Romney address; they preferred to talk about the electrifying back-to-back speeches from Rand Paul and Marco Rubio.

The banner above the podium where Romney will speak declares the theme of the conference: “America’s Future: The Next Generation of Conservatives.” Romney, who turned 66 on Tuesday, is part of neither.

( PHOTOS: Scenes from CPAC 2013)

“He’s getting kind of old now,” said Zachary Pohl, 20, an Ohio State University student who backed Romney in 2008 and 2012. “I’m not going to lie about it.”

The conference draws a mix of millennials looking to network with like-minded true believers, baby boomers looking to brag about their role in the Reagan Revolution and politicians looking to build grassroots support.

Five years ago, at CPAC in 2008, Romney ended his campaign against John McCain for the GOP nomination.

“CPAC has been very good to Mitt Romney over the years, and this is a chance for him to express his appreciation for all that support,” longtime adviser Eric Fehrnstrom emailed in response to a question about the focus of the speech.

The Republican base never felt completely comfortable with Romney. They accepted him only after exhausting the alternatives, from Rick Perry to Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum, driven as much by a desire to deny President Barack Obama a second term as anything else.

Romney won the straw poll four of the past six years with the help of operatives quietly maneuvering to bring in supporters. The victory last year, on the same day Romney won the Maine caucuses, helped slow Santorum’s momentum coming out of Missouri, Minnesota and Colorado.

American Conservative Union Chairman Al Cardenas, who oversees the conference, said he called Romney about a month-and-a-half ago to encourage him to come.

“For six years he pursued the presidency,” said Cardenas. “He became the party’s most significant figure. And America has got a right to hear what he’s got to say after all of that effort.”

“You gotta take a peek at the past if you want to be smart about the future,” he added. “I think 80 percent of what we’re talking about will be the future but you gotta put things in historical context.”

Perry, the Texas governor who might run for president again in 2016, took a shot at Romney with his speech Thursday.

“The popular media narrative, it’s that this country has shifted away from conservative ideals as evidenced by the last two presidential elections,” he said. “That might be true if Republicans had actually nominated conservative candidates in 2008 and 2012.”

Rand Paul, whose father also ran against Romney, echoed the call for change.

“The GOP of old has grown stale and moss-covered,” he said. “I don’t think we need to name any names, do we?”

Romney has been allotted only 15 minutes to speak and will be followed by a lineup of House Republicans. His running mate, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), speaks at 9:30 a.m.

“There hasn’t been too much talk about Romney. That doesn’t mean we don’t respect him … but we’re pumped up to see the young generation of leaders,” said Jake Wagner, 20, the chairman of the New Hampshire Federation of College Republicans. “I don’t want to hear any excuses. I would like to hear his vision for the party going forward.”

The speech comes the same week that the bartender who surreptitiously recorded the crippling “47 percent” video publicly outed himself on MSNBC.

Romney has incentive to cultivate his relationship with conservatives. Some of his kin harbor political ambitions. Romney’s niece is exploring a bid for Senate in Michigan, where her grandfather George served as governor four decades ago.

Mitt and Ann appeared on Fox News Sunday the weekend before last in their first television appearance since the campaign. The patriarch said it “kills” him not to be president.

Serphin Maltese, 80, the onetime chairman of the Conservative Party of New York, supported Santorum in the primaries. He said Romney had a compassionate side that he did not see emerge until the final weeks of the campaign — when it was too late to turn the tide.

“He should be treated as a senior statesman of the party,” he said.

Alexander Trowbridge contributed to this report.