Note to 2012 hopefuls: Don’t yap for too long this weekend

Now that Donald Trump’s hugely publicized pizza summit with Sarah Palin is out of the way, it’s only fair that The Donald get a chance to meet the rest of the potential GOP presidential field. And he will, this weekend. Every darn one of them.

Trump is one of dozens of conservative power players who will address the Faith and Freedom Conference in Washington, a gathering of evangelical Christians organized by Ralph Reed’s Faith and Freedom Coalition.

Among the speakers confirmed as of Thursday are 2012 hopefuls Jon Huntsman, Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich and Herman Cain.

It’s going to be a lot of bold-faced names (and egos) in a short amount of time.

Friday night’s “Evening Session,” for example, lists no fewer than 17 participants, with Trump, Romney, Pawlenty and Paul among them.

ITK asked a conference spokeswoman just how this might all go down. “Five to 10 minutes per speaker, and then Q-and-A if there’s time,” was the answer. If everyone sticks to his or her time (and ITK suspects Trump might use up a little more than 10 minutes), that adds up to three straight hours of yapping. Consider it political speed-dating. For two days. Ouch.

But the best spot of the conference belongs to the newest star in the GOP galaxy: the so-called Herminator. After Cain stole the show at February’s Conservative Political Action Conference and was deemed the winner of a Fox News presidential debate, he’s got the Saturday night gala dinner keynote. Here’s hoping pizza is on the menu.

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