Speech at 2015 CPAC conference: on Education

Carly Fiorina: Make sure that every parent has a choice

Jeb Bush: Federal government should create choices, not standards

Donald Trump: Opposes Common Core

Trump bashed Jeb Bush on education, who Trump said was "in favor of common core."

"I thought Romney could do it," Trump, who backed the candidate during the last election, said. "I don't want what happened to Mitt Romney to happen again."

Jeb Bush: Common Core is not a federal takeover

On the political ticking bomb of Common Core, Bush answered that "Common is not a federal takeover." "What we should say in the reauthorization of the K-12 law is that the federal government has no role in the curriculum," Bush said. The political rift has grown so wide between the moderate Republican and the rest of the conservative base that some CPAC members planned a "walkout" of Bush. About a few dozen protesters, many of them wearing Rand Paul shirts, left at the beginning of Bush's segment, following a "Don't Tread on Me" flag.

In a closing "lightning"-style round of questions, Bush was asked what type of conservative he considered himself to be. His answer only proved the point: "A practicing reform-minded conservative," Bush said.

Ben Carson: Private schooling better than Common Core public schooling

The standards were created and adopted by state officials, but the Obama administration's financial incentives to states that adopt them have drawn accusations of government overreach.