Senator John McCain's presidential
campaign manager is scheduled to speak at the national convention of
the Log Cabin Republicans – the gay Republicans – in April.
Steve Schmidt is expected to speak on
Friday, April 17, the second day of the group's four-day Washington
D.C. gathering.
The former Bush advisor and 2006
campaign manager for California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger will
discuss McCain's campaign strategy and the “Party's path forward,”
according to a Log Cabin blog post.
Also addressing the crowd will be
Meghan McCain, Senator McCain's daughter, who will discuss strategies
to attract younger voters to the Republican Party.
Log Cabin Republicans remain in
financial and leadership turmoil. President Patrick Sammon and
Communications Director Scott Tucker resigned their posts in January,
leaving the group without any full-time staffers.
The group's finances, however, are
looking rosier. Several last-minute donations have helped erase a
$100,000 deficit facing the lobbyists. But leaders say they expect
to cut their 2009 spending by as much as 40%.
This year's convention is themed “The
Future of the GOP.” Speeches will touch on what went wrong during
back-to-back election cycles that pushed the GOP into the minority –
and how it will regain the majority.