Ron Paul cites "travel constraints" as reason for skipping CPAC Ron Paul, the two-time winner of the Conservative Political Action Conference straw poll, isn't attending this year's conference in Washington because of "travel constraints" - but the Texas congressman hasn't held a campaign event since Tuesday. The American Conservative Union, which hosts the annual confab, Republican presidential candidate Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) addresses supporters during a caucus night party Tuesday, in Golden Valley, Minn. His campaign has been quiet since. (Jim Mone - AP) said in a statement last week that Paul's son, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), would address the conference in his father's stead "due to the travel constraints of his Presidential campaign." And Paul's press secretary Gary Howard told the Houston Chronicle on Tuesday that "we have too much campaigning to do across the country." But Paul's last public campaign event was his Tuesday caucus-night event in Golden Valley, Minn., when he addressed supporters after placing second in the Gopher State nominating contest. Since then, Paul's schedule has been clear. Like former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney (R) and former House speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), he has no public events scheduled for Thursday. Paul has been known to take some time off the trail at key moments in the past - he rang in the New Year in Texas rather than campaign in the run-up to the Jan. 3 Iowa caucuses. But his absence is also curious given that CPAC has tended to be dominated in recent years by Paul supporters; on top of that, his straw poll wins at both CPAC and the Family Research Council's annual Values Voter Summit have at times been cause for some consternation among conservatives, who note that Paul has never won a presidential primary or caucus despite his vocal base of supporters. A Paul spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.