Liveblog: Panel of Conservative pundits

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9:05 AM: Whole delegates are off doing fun constitutional things blogger/media types like me are banned from, I'm with a small group in a large room for a panel of pundits hosted by Monte Solberg. Other pundits on the panel of men in suits include twitterer Mike Storeshaw, recently former PMO staffer Dan Robertson, a fellow whose name I didn't catch, and Jamie Watt.

9:08 AM: Monte is talking about cratering Liberal support. Geez dude, I'm right here? But his question to the panel is how do we pick up cratering Liberal support without selling out and becoming *gasp* Liberals ourselves?

Jamie replies first step is solidifying support of the fight-leaning Liberals that voted CPC in 2011. One advantage is Harper was very clear on what he put on offer in 2011 campaign, he says. His research shows right-leaning Harpers were willing to give Harper a shot. To keep them, he says CPC needs to honour their promises by doing exactly what they said they'd do in the campaign.

Dan says rising NDP with the prospect of government is causing nervous Liberals to go CPC to keep NDP out of power, and best thing to help CPC keep gained LPC votes is Jack Layton as NDP leader.

9:12 AM: Monte cites the Manning Centre's "everyone is becoming more conservative" research (which I find less than compelling), and asks if the CPC just communicates better how awesome they are, won't everyone flick to them.

Guy I don't know says people are no longer identifying as partisans, it's about issues that impact them. Storeshaw talks about the importance of working between elections, being pragmatic and working for the people. Oh, and I see on Twitter the other guy's name is Jason Lietaer.

Jamie adds that writ periods are getting shorter, and for Ignatieff it wasn't long enough for him to kick the crap out of the CPC and sell his "family pack" or "whatever the hell they called it." Four days of Facbook story cost him 10 per cent of the campaign and his bandwidth to sell his message to Canadians.

Meanwhile, Robertson is writing the obituary of the Liberal Party. I remember when people wrote his party off; I guess he has forgotten though. Of course, no one will remember his definitive statements when they're proven to be full of crap. But Motne is excited about it.

9:20 AM: Question from floor, member from Ottawa-Centre doesn't like loyalty of his riding association and wants to know how to build a better one so they can knock off Paul Dewar, of whom I'm guessing he's not a fan.

Monte notes that Mark Holland actually kept his vote in Ajax-Pickering; when I heard Holland's name I expected something bad because they dont' like him; particularly after Mike Duffy's Nazi reference last night.

Meanwhile, Robertson is ranting about vote splitting as a myth.

9:25 AM: Apparently I'm in a CPAC camera shot, particularly when questioners are at the mic, so I guess I need to work on my posture. Anyway, a delegate from Don Valley West walks about the hard slof they've had there, and asks how they can keep with the multicultural support they've won in order to keep the riding.

Watt has nothing on topic, just repeats about Harper needing to keep his promises. Robertson continues in that theme, but the questioner gets back up and complains they're not answering her question, which is about how do we keep faith with the poor and disadvantaged that voted for them, because if they're not helped they'll lose their votes. Monte jumps in to list all sorts of great things the CPC has already done for the poor folks.

9:31 AM: Delegate from Quebec feels communications response needs to be better when the party was getting slagged for Harper not visiting the flood sites. Apparently he was in Europe and Afghanistan, but all the media were being mean because he didn't visit Quebec and he party didn't respond well, comms wise.

Jason, who works on comms team in PMO and the campaign, says they could have done better in Quebec in the campaign but comms wasn't their big challenge and their quick response was fine, the media was just mean to them. Internally, he says their focus was on talking to journalists quickly rather than getting into to riding associations, and they need to do better on the second half.

Meanwhile, Storeshaw answers her question in the language she primarily asked it, French.

9:41 AM: Parliamentary secretary to the PM, Deal Del Mastro, takes the mic to say as important as doing what we said we'd do is saying what we won't do. He says CPC is better for poor people than the NDP, and boasts about how he lied to voters by pretending Ruby Dhalla's pensions bill was a Liberal bill. Of course, he knows it wasn't and that the Liberal leadership didn't support it.

9:47 AM: Robertson says Conservatives have replaced Liberals as the patriotic party of Canada, and Storeshaw questions Ken Dryden's performance in the 1927 Summit Series with the Soviets.

9:52 AM: Former candidate says he doesn't see many people from his riding or volunteers here, because it's so expensive to attend the convention; it's mainly MPs and staffers because to much. He wants to know if anything can be done to make these events more affordable and inclusive and make all members feel included. Monte says more can be done with technology, and strong ridings can fundraise and help support delegates.

9:56 AM: Question on NDP Quebec support. Watt says it's not orange crush, it's a box of cracker jacks. It's entirely Jack Layton. When the BQ stumbled, people looked at the LPC and apparently we're toxic, and they looked at the CPC but apparently Jamie's party is awesome but just misunderstood. so beer-goggled Quebecers went home with an ugly Layton. Watt also switches from saying we need to make the NDP seem close to government so we can scare people to saying they're not close to government so they won't keep support.

10: 00 AM: And that's about it. Back in half an hour with a session with Preston Manning.

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