By now you know what to expect from this weekend's Republican carnival at the Intercontinental Buckhead.
Ten 2016 GOP presidential hopefuls will arrive today and tomorrow for RedState Gathering 2015 and a chance to speak to 700 activists, 150 media types and unknown more watching from home. But there are 'way more than 10 Republicans running for president.
Erick Erickson, the WSB Radio host and brains behind the RedState Gathering, hand-picked the candidates who be allowed to appear this weekend. Here's who made the cut, and here's the day-by-day agenda:
He told the AJC previously that former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania was rude in 2012, that he sees no "rationale" for Dr. Ben Carson's candidacy and dislikes Ohio Gov. John Kasich's decision to expand Medicaid based on religious reasons. (Erickson said Thursday night that he "wouldn't invite John Kasich if he were the last person on Earth.")
None will be in Atlanta this weekend. Neither will U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore, former New York Gov. George Pataki or U.S. Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky.
What will they be doing instead? In some cases, it's difficult to tell. Many of the candidates, especially nascent ones like Gilmore and Pataki, have made very few campaign appearances and many of the others do not share their public schedules in advance.
We do know, however, that Carson will be in Iowa today and Saturday for a series of events and that Paul will campaign in the South Carolina towns of Rock Hill, Laurens, Columbia and Goose Creek.
We gave several campaigns the chance to tell us what their candidate would tell RedState attendees had they been given the chance. Only Kasich took us up on the offer.
"Wherever he goes, Governor Kasich talks about his record that sets him apart from the rest of the field," Kasich spokesman Chris Schrimpf said. "He is the only person running that has balanced the federal budget, has national security experience, and as governor turned around one of the largest states in the country. As governor he turned an $8 billion budget hole into a $2 billion surplus while cutting taxes by $5 billion -- the largest tax cut in the nation."
Check out the rest of our recent RedState stories:
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