* A reliable source dumped a hot rumor in my lap at CPAC, but asked that I wait until Monday to print it. The story? John Edwards is running for the Senate in North Carolina. If it turns out to be true, remember where you heard it first.

* On Thursday night, I was hanging out at the reception with Karol Shenin from Alarming News and she spots Wayne LaPierre, the head of the National Rifle Association, who she is in total awe of. So, she pleads with me to go over with her and get her a picture. I am a little surprised, just a bit anyway, because Karol is like the most personable person on earth and it's hard for me to imagine her being too shy to talk to anyone, but still, no worries, I am happy to help out.

So, we wander over and LaPierre is talking to some guy and Chris Cox, the NRA's Executive Director about whether they're going to endorse McCain. Before I can say anything, Karol blurts something or another out, and I start to laugh, because I knew she wasn't as shy as she was pretending to be -- maybe. In the end, I did have to ask him to let Karol take a pic with him.

Anyway, LaPierre was talking about whether the NRA was going to endorse McCain and while he didn't say they were for sure, I got the impression that is going to come but, and this is a big but, he was really emphasizing that they had to be honest with their members to preserve their credibility, which I took to mean that they were going to hammer McCain for McCain-Feingold, which the NRA really hated with a passion.

* I got to meet a lot of people that I didn't manage to get pics of during CPAC. Ken Blackwell, Mark Steyn, Pamela Gellar, Kevin McCullough, Jed Babbin, Wayne LaPierre, Niger Innis, Angela McGlowan, Amanda Carpenter, and Jesse & Michelle Malkin among others. If you are interested in meeting big name conservatives, CPAC is a great place to do it.

* I was also trying to get interviews with Dinesh D'Souza, Jim DeMint, G. Gordon Liddy, and Roy Beck from NumbersUSA. Unfortunately, there was a lot of chaos at the event and I didn't end up hooking up for interviews with any of them.

* You ever seen those posters that post ugly liberal women and attractive conservative women? Well, I've always thought those posters were unfair and they well may be, but, I am not sure I have ever seen as many good looking women in one place as I did at CPAC. Not that every woman there was attractive, but it was not the least bit unusual to have 50 women walk by and not have a single one that was less than an 8 out of 10. It would be interesting to go to the Yearly Kos sometime and see how the women measure up.

* I cannot say enough good things about Kristina Grabosky, who played "our gal Friday" to all the bloggers. She was one of the nicest, most competent, and hard working people I've ever had the pleasure to deal with, especially since putting up with a bunch of kvetching bloggers under less that ideal circumstances would try the patience of a saint.

* In the world of conservative punditry and blogging, I'm still a peon compared to the real rock stars of the movement. Still, I gotta tell you, it is extremely cool to have someone come up to you and say, "Oh wow, you're John Hawkins? I've been reading your blog for years and I'm a big fan." You get the emails and they're nice, but there's just something awesome about having it happen in person.

* You can see all of my CPAC posts here.