OXON HILL, Maryland (AP) - The Latest on the Conservative Political Action Conference (all times local):
10:05 a.m.
White House counselor Kellyanne Conway is thanking conservatives for helping elect President Donald Trump.
Conway tells a gathering in a Maryland suburb of Washington that while Trump might not have naturally bonded with conservatives at first, "he went right to the grassroots and brought you along."
She says, "He earned the nomination in a way that was bottom-up, not top-down." She also describes Trump as "a man who just absorbs information and people and experiences."
Conway is speaking to the Conservative Political Action Conference, which draws more than 10,000 activists. Others from the Trump administration, including Vice President Mike Pence, will speak later Thursday. Trump addresses the group Friday.
___
3:54 a.m.
For the past eight years, thousands of conservative activists have descended on Washington each spring with dreams of putting a Republican in the White House.
They finally have one, but they are not sure he's really conservative.
With Donald Trump's presidential victory, the future of the conservative movement has become entwined with an unconventional New York businessman better known for his deal-making than any ideological principles.
It's an uneasy marriage of political convenience at best. Some conservatives worry whether they can trust their new president to follow decades of orthodoxy on issues like international affairs, small government, abortion and opposition to expanded legal protections for LGBT Americans - and what it means for their movement if he doesn't.