Jeb Bush Supporters Bused to CPAC By Bush Backers

First #CPAC2015 selfie! Having a blast with everyone pic.twitter.com/SGBehZQaI5

— Jeb Bush (@JebBush) February 27, 2015

When Florida Governor Jeb Bush said we should give the 11 million people who are in the country illegally a “path to legal status,” CPAC attendees roared their approval, as if they had just been told by Oprah Winfrey that they would all be receiving a new car at the end of the show.

That seemed a bit odd, since the mere mention of Jeb Bush’s name had drawn boos from those in attendance at CPAC — the Conservative Political Action Conference — earlier in the day on Friday:

https://twitter.com/thezachnoble/status/571345001931784193

news: audience stacked with Rand Paul fans boos Jeb and Christie, cheers Rand Paul

— Peter Hamby (@PeterHamby) February 27, 2015

Jeb Bush & Christie get boos, few cheers at CPAC when Hannity asks

— Jeremy Diamond (@JDiamond1) February 27, 2015

Braveheart got more cheers at this @cpacnews speech than Jeb and Christie. So there's that.

— Ben Kamisar (@bkamisar) February 27, 2015

But then something changed:

.@JebBush on stage now, his supporters rise up with cheers. #CPAC2015

— Alex Leary (@learyreports) February 27, 2015

Mostly cheers for Jeb, smattering of boos. #CPAC2015

— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) February 27, 2015

Jeb Bush got booed at 11am and suddenly at 2pm there were cheers for him – crowd switch? #CPAC2015

— Lynda McLaughlin (@LyndaMick) February 27, 2015

Betsy Woodruff at Slate has a possible explanation for the change of heart at CPAC:

It sounds like Jeb Bush’s supporters are taking CPAC pretty seriously this year. Emails provided to Slate show that backers of the former Florida governor are busing supporters from downtown Washington D.C. to CPAC in National Harbor, Maryland, and organizing to get them day passes into the event.

One of the emails that went out this morning was from Fritz Brogan, a former advance man for then-President George W. Bush who (per the Washington Post) co-hosted a fundraiser for Jeb’s Right to Rise PAC earlier this month. A Bush insider confirmed to Slate that Bush’s Right to Rise PAC is helping organize the transportation.

Keep this in mind when the CPAC Straw Poll results are released on Saturday. Each paid entrant is allowed one vote in the poll and attendees need only check in at the door in order to be eligible to vote.