CPAC; McCain

UPDATED

Guess which 2008 Republican presidential hopeful is not going to be at the 2007 Conservative Political Action Conference?

According to the Evans-Novak Political Report, John McCain, who has folded himself into little squares trying to prove his social conservative bona fides, will skip the CPAC, but even though he won't be there, it doesn't mean the attendees won't be hearing and reading a lot about him.

This week, the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) will attract right-wingers from all over the country. They will receive a 23-page attack on McCain from the right-wing group Citizens United, declaring: "He's no Ronald Reagan."

In the meantime, McCain is reportedly going after Rudy Giuliani, trying to paint him as an old-school corrupt Democratic politician.

They're eating each other. At this rate, there might not be anything left for us to destroy in November of 2008.

UPDATE

From TPM's Election Central:

But McCain asked for a chance to privately address attendees of the big event -- which has many speculating that he wants to appeal to them for their support but doesn't want to be seen publicly pandering to the same people. From the [Washington Times]:

Sponsors of the Conservative Political Action Conference, which begins today in Washington and brings together thousands of conservative leaders and grass-roots activists, say the Arizona Republican has "dissed" organizers by attempting to schedule a private reception for attendees after rejecting invitations to speak at the event...

Conservative activists have speculated that Mr. McCain did not want to be seen on television "pandering" to Republican "right-wingers" but wanted to court those same activists at a reception in the same hotel.

Straight talk -- but only behind closed doors.