U.S. Sen Ted Cruz speaks to a cheering crowd at CPAC at the Hyatt Regency in Orlando on Friday, February 26, 2021. - Stephen M. Dowell/TNS
ORLANDO, Fla. — The country’s largest annual gathering of conservatives began in Orlando on Friday, and Florida was front and center. Gov. Ron DeSantis kicked off the event and touted his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and Florida’s relatively lax social-distancing protocols that enabled this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference to be held indoors and in-person in former President Donald Trump’s home state. “We are in an oasis of freedom in a nation that’s suffering from the yoke of oppressive lockdowns,’‘ DeSantis said during a speech that mostly mirrored a stump-style campaign ...
