At CPAC, Defeating Obama Trumps Nominee Fight WASHINGTON - As some Republican leaders wring their hands at the prospect of a drawn-out nominating contest, many of the 10,000 people attending the Conservative Political Action Conference here did not seem too concerned about that possibility. In fact, as they met and talked over three days, they seemed far from ready to close in on a single candidate to carry their banner in November. "I'm not worried, it just makes for a better candidate," said Ed Moon, 60, president of a private college association in Tallahassee, Fla. The base will be energized. The Republican nominee, it seemed, mattered less in their efforts to mobilize than their intense dislike of President Obama. In dozens of interviews at the conference, which was to end Saturday afternoon, people expressed preferences for Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum or, less often, Newt Gingrich or the absent Ron Paul. But every one of them said the same thing, often in the same words: "Anybody but Obama." Or, as Robert Kitchens, a retiree from Houston, put it, "I'm interested in saving the country." The Obama administration's clash this week with religious leaders over insurance coverage of contraception only magnified the sense of outrage. Whatever their putative topic, most of the conference speakers seized on the contraception issue, saying it had revealed to the country Mr. Obama's true anti-Constitutional colors. Few were mollified by the modifications Mr. Obama offered on Friday. In a speech, Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor and a Baptist minister, pounded on what he called a severe threat to religious freedom and the First Amendment. "Thanks to President Obama we are all Catholics now," he said, evoking John F. Kennedy's famous declaration in Berlin. Mr. Huckabee criticized those who said that issues like abortion should take a back seat to economics in the election, drawing cheers when he said that the Obama administration "is more interested in protecting a lizard than a human life." The requirement for contraceptive coverage was widely described as a harbinger of deeper incursions on freedom that would occur if Mr. Obama is re-elected. In one example of the harsh accusations, Wayne LaPierre, executive vice president of the National Rifle Association, said that while the president had not actually tried to reign in gun ownership yet, "he's hiding his true intentions to destroy the Second Amendment in his second term." "We're on the brink of seeing our freedom destroyed," Mr. LaPierre said. The conference known as CPAC, which is sponsored by the American Conservative Union, is the largest annual gathering of conservatives, a political festival intended to lay out battle themes for the movement. With high hopes of winning the presidential election, and with the leading Republican candidates vying for conservatives" allegiance, this year's event had an unusual excitement. A Rick Santorum booth in the exhibition hall had sold 250 navy blue sweater vests by Friday night. Half of the crowd were college students, many saying they were thrilled to rub shoulders with A-list politicians like Florida senator Marco Rubio as well as leaders from groups like the Heritage Foundation and the National Organization for Marriage. Fox News correspondents were also a draw, with many students asking them to pose for iPhone snapshots. The appearances by Rick Santorum, Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich were highlights, and if the candidates did not each gain new supporters, they seemed to reassure many people that any of the three, including Mitt Romney, whose authenticity has been questioned, would carry their torch. Spencer Larson, 53, an investment adviser from Moraga, Calif., said that he had leaned toward Mr. Romney and decided to support him after hearing his speech. "Romney probably didn't change anybody's mind," he said. But with his clear promises to, for example, overturn Obamacare and support traditional marriage, Mr. Romney may have allayed fears, should he ultimately prevail. Al Cardenas, a Florida Republican leader and chairman of the American Conservative Union, said that he had worried, before the meeting began on Thursday, that the increasingly sharp exchanges in the campaign would poison the atmosphere. But as the meeting proceeded, he said in an interview, he had been pleased to see that participants seemed to remain friendly, saving their ire for the president.