American Conservative Union

The parent organization of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) is about to lose its longtime leader as it's embroiled in a bitter feud over the conference's inclusion of the gay conservative group GOProud. Two Keene allies confirmed a story first reported in World Net Daily that ACU chairman David Keene would not serve another term as head of the conservative political organization. According to them, Keene is expected take over as president of the National Rifle Association after leaving ACU.
Keene has been on the board of the NRA for years, and had been looking to this next step for at least a year. And the departure of Keene will change the picture for ACU's CPACs. A common problem that some conservatives have with CPAC is the involvement of Keene, whom they criticize, quietly, for trading off the ACU's credentials. A 2009 scandal over Keene offering to side with FedEx in a dispute with UPS -- many conservatives, it should be said, sided with UPS -- was emblematic of this. (Sarah Palin cited this as one reason she didn't attend the 2010 CPAC.) But Keene really had been looking at the NRA job for a while; it is pure luck that social conservatives have taken a stand against CPAC's libertarian bent this year, and can reap publicity when he leaves.