Special to TheConservativeVoice.com

WASHINGTON, D.C.

Both President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney are scheduled to address the more than 6,000 activists attending the 35th annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) this week in Washington.

Republican presidential candidates Mitt Romney, John McCain and Ron Paul also are slated to speak during the three-day event that begins Thursday at Washington's posh Omni Shoreham Hotel.

"For the first time, we will have both the president and vice president speaking in person," said Larry Hart, Director of Government Relations for the American Conservative Union (ACU), which has organized the yearly event since its inception in 1974.

News that both Bush and Cheney will speak at CPAC may add to the record-breaking attendance already expected this year for the nation's largest annual gathering of conservative activists.

"We're on pace to be higher than last year's 6,300, which was a record," said CPAC director Lisa De Pasquale. "Obviously, we don't know what on-site registration is going to be."

Anticipation of CPAC has been heightened by the intensity of the ongoing campaign for the Republican presidential nomination. This year's conference will kick off just two days after so-called "Super Duper Tuesday," when 24 states will hold GOP primaries.

Bringing together conservative activists from across the country, CPAC features three days of speeches, workshops, book signings, receptions, banquets and special events such as this year's exclusive screening of the new documentary film, "Hillary: The Movie."

Among the authors who will hold book-signing events at CPAC this year are Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC), Joseph Farah, Mark Steyn, Brent Bozell III, Al Regnery, R. Emmett Tyrrell, Amanda Carpenter, Kenneth Timmerman, Lou Cannon, Bruce Bartlett, Kathleen Willey, John Bolton, Mike Adams, Doug Giles, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA) and former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX)

More than 200 reporters and broadcast news personnel will be on hand to cover CPAC, said Ian Walters, who coordinates media and communications for the event. Many talk radio programs will broadcast live from "Radio Row" in CPAC's exhibition hall, where they will be joined by 30 conservative bloggers on "Bloggers Row."

Among the radio talkers on hand for CPAC 2008 will be nationally syndicated hosts G. Gordon Liddy, Greg Knapp, and Ben Ferguson of Radio America, as well as Kirby Wilbur (Seattle), Sandy Rios (Chicago), Martha Zoller (Atlanta), Steve Gill (Nashville), Adam McManus (San Antonio), Don Kroah (Washington, DC), and XM Satellite Radio's "POTUS '08" channel.

A full schedule for CPAC is online at http://www.cpac.org, and further information is available at (800) 752-4391.