Originally, I planned on doing morning radio shows all week at the Minnesota State Fair for AM 1280 The Patriot, but the opportunity to cover AFP’s Defending the Dream Summit 2014 was too good to pass up. I flew to Dallas yesterday afternoon and will be at the Omni Hotel for both days of the event, covering the various talks and speeches  — and there is plenty of great topics and speakers to cover.  They will have some live streaming for those who could not make it, but Guy Benson and I heard that over 3,000 people will be on hand for this event, making it AFP’s biggest event ever.

The main action will come in the afternoon. Governor Rick Perry will speak, as will Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn and Senator Rand Paul. Dr. Ben Carson, a favorite of the grassroots, will also be on hand today, as will be AEI president Arthur Brooks. All of these speeches will take place between 1:30-4:30 CT.

In the morning, conference attendees will have a wide range of choices in three breakout sessions. The agenda is live at the above link, but I’ll probably attend these today:

• Obamacare & You – What the Bill Really Says and What it Really Means — Avik Roy has done amazing reporting on ObamaCare, and he’s one of the panelists. Definitely want to see where this goes with open registration season fast approaching.
• Wastewatchers – Tightening the Belt on Government Spending — This was a tough choice, because Guy will be on a panel focusing on social-media branding, and Jim Geraghty on another that delves into the problems of overregulation and cronyism. I’ll probably end up with Wastewatchers, as Governor Mike Pence will be on that panel. I ran into Gov. Pence on an elevator just after I arrived at the hotel, and we chatted for a couple of minutes. With 2016 not too far off the radar, it might be interesting to see what Gov. Pence has to say.
• Social Media – Short and Sweet — An easy choice for the last session, as Jim, Guy, and Tabitha Hale are all on this same panel.

I’ll post during the morning about any interesting exchanges that take place in these breakout sessions, but I’m hoping to get interviews with some of the principals while I’m down here. We have confirmation with one already, which I’ll leave as a surprise for later, but I’ll be working on others as well. Stay tuned.

Note: For full disclosure purposes, AFP is covering my travel costs to this event, but Townhall Media (our parent organization) is a sponsor of this event as well anyway.