Colorado Christian University’s Centennial Institute hosted the seventh-annual Western Conservative Summit this weekend at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver and drew national conservative figures to address the event’s approximate 4,000 attendees, including presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump, former Alaska Gov. Sara Palin, 2016 Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina, RedState founder Christian conservative pundit Erick Erickson and “Duck Dynasty” reality TV star Phil Robertson.

Of course, a lot of action happened offstage, too. There were Trump-based protest-clashes in the street outside the convention center and there was much to see in the workshop side rooms, lobbies and hallways. Below a scrapbook of in-the-building mobile phone shots and random notes.

All photos by John Tomasic, taken July 1-2, 2016.

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Palin and the little people: Enormous video screens hung over the main hall seating. It felt like roughly a football field’s hundred yards from the back row chairs to the stage. 

A pair of front row seats marked out for influential Big Money state Republicans. 

Options supplied in the vice presidential straw poll conducted at the Summit, July 1, 2016. 

A photo-ready pair of Trump supporters on Friday before the arrival of the presumptive Republican Party nominee. Trump spoke to the mostly conservative Christian crowd for almost an hour on only his second campaign trip to swing-state Colorado as a presidential candidate. 

State Sen. Tim Neville, R-Littleton, after the Trump speech. “What you have to avoid is putting any politician on a pedestal. Everybody’s flawed. It’s not fair to them. They lose sight of what they should be grounded with. You know, I was more of a Rand Paul guy in the primary. But none of them are perfect in terms of their views, and everything else. We have to say that. We have to disagree respectfully.

“We have some huge problems this year, I don’t know. Like I said, none of the candidates are going to be perfect. It’s a question of the American people sorting out what’s the best alternative.” 

Colorado Springs Republican House District 15 candidate Dave Williams casually takes in the happenings. He can afford to relax. Williams is running to fill the seat being vacated by conservative internet preacher Rep. Gordon Klingenschmitt. Williams won the GOP primary and is a shoo-in to win in the general election against Democrat Sharon Huff. 

State Sen. Doug Lambert, Colorado Springs, and Rep. Bob Rankin, R-Carbondale, enjoy a laugh in the wake of Trump’s entertainingly rambling speech.

“If I knew there would be teleprompters here, I would have used them,” Trump said to open his talk. “Starting to love those teleprompters. It’s interesting, you know, it’s much easier when you have a teleprompter – and I’m getting great reviews with the teleprompters. When you stand up and you just go at it, it’s much more exciting, however. I think this crowd, I know the folks from Colorado, they’re wild. I think if I used the teleprompter they’d be outta here fast, they’d just go, ‘Let’s get outta here.'” 

Poking holes in the air: State Sens. Jack Tate, R-Centennial, and Majority Leader Mark Scheffel, R-Sedalia, mingle after the Trump speech. Tate, facing camera, lays down the law with his companions, while term-limited Scheffel, back to camera, clearly couldn’t be less interested. “Whatever, Jack.” 

Young Conservatives Leadership Conference participants Stanton Spaulding, either momentarily dozing or praying, and Wyatt Anderson in jaunty bowtie. 

Conservative parseltongue? Former Navy chaplain and state Rep. Gordon “Dr. Chaps” Klingenschmitt, R-Colorado Springs, interviews a representative of the anti-wind-power group Raptor Education Foundation and a real live eagle. Low eagle voice: I’m watching you, Chaps! 

Conservative activist Tony Sanchez drums up support in opposition to Common Core school testing at the Western Conservative Summit. Sanchez lost in a 2014 nail-biter Senate District 22 election to Lakewood Democrat Andy Kerr. “I campaigned for school reform and I’m still working it, right here,” Sanchez said. 

There were about 1,000 empty seats (and about 2,500 filled seats) for Trump’s speech. Reporters wondered why the state Republican Party, the Republican National Committee and/or recently-named Trump Campaign State Director Patrick Davis didn’t make sure to somehow pack the empty seats with warm bodies. Davis played down concerns. “This was not a Trump event,” he told The Statesman. “It was a Western Conservative Summit event.  We were pleased with the turnout.” 

People lined up for the GOP vice presidential straw poll conducted by the summit. Some of them jokingly called out the names of high-profile reluctant and never-Trump supporters. “Paul Ryan!” “Ben Sasse!” “Mitt Romney!”

On Sunday the results came in: Newt Gingrich came in on top, Arkansas U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton came in second, and presidential candidate Carly Fiorina came in third. Veepstakes pundits have been placing Gingrich at the top of the list of likelies for days. Cotton has been an open supporter of Trump. Fiorina would seem a long shot, judging by her acid exchanges with Trump during the primary race and the fact that she teamed up with Ted Cruz as would-be vice presidential candidate as a last-ditch effort to defeat Trump. But she is a woman, a good balance against the Hillary Clinton candidacy, and she speaks in well-prepared full paragraphs, a good balance to the Trump candidacy. 

Badges, posters, stickers and T-shirts. 

Just in case: A hand-drawn applause sign in an empty closet-like room on the day Trump addressed the summit crowd. 

Blue Klingenschmitt: The Colorado Springs Republican state representative in the lobby outside the Colorado Convention Center main hall during the crowded summit. Klingenschmitt gave up his state House seat to run for the state Senate this year. He lost in the June 28 primary race to former state Rep. Bob Gardner. Klingenschmitt, who stars in his own internet evangelist show, was attending the summit as a member of the media. 

The larger-than-life Twitter hashtag for the Western Conservative Summit, which reportedly “trended” for a while Friday, the day of the Trump appearance. 

– john@coloradostatesman.com