C-PAC: Swag Heaven!

One of the best parts of going to C-PAC, aside from seeing great speakers, is the swag. The Urban Dictionary defines swag as booty, or loot. C-PAC, anticipating this extreme amount of free stuff, gives everyone a free tote bag to put everything in. Like children on Halloween, we ran from booth to booth in the hotel exhibit hall, taking anything we could stuff into our bags. C-PAC is fantastic for this sort of stuff. I found an extremely wide variety of things, from public policy booklets and magazines, to candidate buttons and DVDs.

The hall was filled with exhibitors from all over the conservative spectrum. There were presidential hopefuls, newspapers, blog sites, and non-profit groups. After surveying everyone, I must say that the non-profit issue-oriented organizations, as well as non-profit conservative think tanks, really had the best swag. Maybe it's because they thrive in the private sector, sucking in money from donors and patrons. They have the resources to make the sweetest swag, and C-PAC really gave them a venue to shine.

After I made my way through half of the exhibit hall, my Young America's Foundation tote bag was filled. Thankfully, there was a well-positioned organization handing out second tote bags. I guess they realized that people would be in dire need of a second bag. The group was called Muslims for America, and their main focus is to elect Newt Gingrich. Yea, it sounds a little strange, but I talked to their spokesperson and he told me that was their main mission. Apparently they really love Newt (I mean, who doesn't) and they find his plan for the war against Islamic fascism to be the best. They seemed like a cool group of people--I just wanted the bag.

There were varying degrees of swag in the hall... but there were three tables that really offered up some unique, and awesome stuff.

The first was the ESA/ESRB, the video game ratings board. Over the last decade, this self-regulating non-profit group has become increasingly active the in the political scene. They are constantly defending the art of video games against folks like Joe Lieberman and Hillary Clinton, who aim to censor video games and add government regulation to their sales. They have actually spent more than the RIAA and MPAA combined, and it was a very smart move for them to appear at this conference.

The workers for the ESRB were extremely friendly, and they made sure to ask me what kinds of video games that I played. In return, they gave me a sweet "Rated M" keychain! They had keychains displaying all the degrees of ratings, but obviously the "M for Mature" rating was the coolest. In the space next to the table, they had big flat screen televisions with Dance Dance Revolution and Guitar Hero II setups. They also gave away soundtracks for all the DDR games and pins for Guitar Hero II! The ESA also had important pamphlets about gamer demographics and legislation about game ratings. An excellent table, for sure!

The second table that I really enjoyed was the Fair Tax table. These folks are die hard advocates for a national Fair Tax, which would eliminate the income tax and create a less complex tax system. They have the support of some big Libertarian commentators like Neal Bortz, but there hasn't been a whole lot of talk about it on a legislative level. So the mission of this table is to arm every passerby with enough info to make him or her fall in love with the idea.

They didn't have to convince me about the Fair Tax. I've been excited about it ever since I first read about the idea in 2004. That wasn't going to stop me from taking every awesome piece of swag they had to offer. This included a cool DVD called "Fair Tax: It's Time"--I haven't watched it yet, but I'm sure it's going to be sweet; a mouse pad that says "Make April 15th Just Another Day"; a folder filled with charts and graphs about how successful the tax would be; and, finally, Fair Tax Lip Balm! So now, my lips will be moist and happy thanks to solid tax reform legislation.

The final table was the Sam Adams Alliance. They basically are a group of people that want to return more rights to the states, and make sure that the states are held accountable for their decisions. I didn't really care what they had to say, because their piece of swag far overshadowed their message. They were handing out a Sam Adams bobble head!

Word of a table actually giving out a Sam Adams bobble head spread like wildfire through the conference. There were actually flyers in our conference bags promoting the bobble head. It was surprising that all they were asking for was an e-mail address and the statue was yours. This group just formed in October, and I say that if they keep doing great things like handing out bobble heads for free, then they deserve a place in my heart.

The swag at this conference was impeccable, at least if you fancy yourself a conservative. Next time I go, I'll make sure to bring an empty backpack just for swag.