McCain Crushes Romney, Heads to CPAC

Stephen F. Hayes fills us in on what to expect, when the candidate heads to the Conservative Political Action Conference on Thursday:

McCain will not pander. His advisers think any attempt to do so
will undercut his "straight talk" reputation among independents and many
Republicans. What's more, they say, McCain doesn't pander well and would reject
any suggestion that he do so. (Remember when McCain read from a prepared
statement on the Confederate Flag in South Carolina eight years ago?)
McCain
said ten days ago that he would not reach out to Rush Limbaugh, but that he
would be open to communications with anyone. His advisers seem confident that
conservatives will come around without much targeted outreach, in part because
they don't have anywhere else to go.

It's pretty obvious now that McCain doesn't have to pander, but it would be great if everyone is on board to beat the Dems. Its oblivious to me why he snubbed the powerful conservative group for so many years, and it would require some big time schmoozing on his part to mend the fence. Why bother now?