That bumper sticker, “I’m the NRA, and I vote,” could mean more than ever before in the upcoming presidential election, helping to explain why 13 potential GOP presidential candidates — the largest group ever — are traveling to Nashville Friday to address the 144th National Rifle Association Annual Meeting.
With five million dues-paying members, and up to 25 million others who align with the Second Amendment lobby and education organization, the NRA is providing a key platform for the candidates, 19 months before the 2016 election.
It is “a very valuable commodity,” said NRA spokesman Andrew Arulanandam.
Top-tier Republicans like Jeb Bush and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and celebrity candidates including Donald Trump and Sarah Palin will hit the stage Friday to state their support for the Second Amendment and brag on their pro-gun record.
Bush, for example, put the others on notice when his team announced his attendance with this note: “Under Governor Bush’s leadership, Florida became one of the most pro-2nd Amendment states in country. Governor Bush is a lifetime member of the NRA and has an A+ rating from the NRA.”
About 70,000 are expected at the annual meeting and show that starts Thursday and ends Sunday.
Like a condensed version of the several-day-long Conservative Political Action Conference that just occurred, speakers will line up to address the sold-out “NRA-ILA Leadership Forum” sponsored by the organization’s lobbying arm. They include: Bush, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, Walker, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, Ben Carson, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, Palin and Trump.
Arulanandam said the candidates realize that the NRA membership is a force to be reckoned with. “When they speak to the members of the NRA, they are speaking to a committed, savvy and motivated base,” he said.
NRA officials said the convention and membership is a “draw” for the Republicans, most of whom have good grades from the group. And having so many of the GOP 2016 field attending is proof of the influence of the group and its effective lobbying and campaigning.
It spent $28,029,871 in the 2014 midterm elections, and $19,767,043 in the 2012 elections, according to the group Open Secrets. But NRA associates said that the organizing efforts and enthusiasm of its huge membership base is more important than money to candidates looking for votes.
The Convention is to feature hundreds of vendors, so many that tents are being erected outside the jam-packed Music City Center in downtown Nashville.
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected].
