What to watch for this weekend in politics

Phil Pruitt

It's a big day Friday at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C. Three of the Republican White House hopefuls speak.

Rick Santorum, who is angling to maintain the momentum he picked up Tuesday in Missouri, Minnesota and Colorado, speaks at CPAC at 10:25 a.m. EST. Mitt Romney, who continues to try to solidify the frontrunner position, speaks at 12:55 p.m. EST, and Newt Gingrich, who says he is in the hunt all the way to the GOP convention in Tampa, speaks at 4:10 p.m. EST. Ron Paul is not attending CPAC this year, and details of his Friday schedule were not available on his campaign web site.

The convention, which is attended each year by thousands of Republican activists, closes Saturday with a speech by Sarah Palin.

Romney also will campaign Friday morning in Virginia and will end his day in Maine, where caucus results will be released Saturday. Paul has campaigned in Maine more than his rivals, and no doubt will be watching the results closely.

And Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson remains busy. He speaks Friday at the party's Florida state convention.

President Obama will sign the final bill sponsored by former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. The bill aims to crack down on drug smugglers who use ultralight aircraft to cross the U.S.-Mexico border. Giffords, her husband former NASA astronaut Mark Kelly, and Vice President Joe Biden will attend the 11:40 a.m. EST signing. Giffords resigned from the House in January to focus on her recovery from being shot in the head at a political rally in Tucson, Ariz., in January 2011.

And then there is this: Friday marks five years since Obama announced his presidential bid with a speech in Springfield, Ill.

Sources: Yahoo! News, Associated Press

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