WASHINGTON — As some Republican leaders wring their hands at the prospect of a drawn-out nominating contest, many of the 10,000 people attending the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) here did not seem too concerned about that possibility.

In fact, as they met and talked over three days, they seemed far from ready to close in on a single candidate to carry their banner in November.

"I'm not worried, it just makes for a better candidate," said Ed H. Moore, 60, president of a private college association in Tallahassee, Fla. "The base will be energized."

The Republican nominee, it seemed, mattered less in their efforts to mobilize than their intense dislike of President Obama.

Or, as Robert Kitchens, a retiree from Houston, put it, "I'm interested in saving the country."

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney won the straw poll Saturday, followed by former Sen. Rick Santorum, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Texas Rep. Ron Paul, who did not attend the annual conference of conservative activists.

The Obama administration's clash this week with religious leaders over insurance coverage of contraception only magnified the sense of outrage.

Whatever their putative topic, most of the conference speakers seized on the contraception issue, saying it had revealed to the country Obama's true anti-constitutional colors.

Few were mollified by the modifications Obama offered Friday.

In a speech, Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor and a Baptist minister, pounded on what he called a severe threat to religious freedom and the First Amendment.

"Thanks to President Obama, we are all Catholics now," he said, evoking John F. Kennedy's famous declaration in Berlin.

Huckabee criticized those who said issues like abortion should take a back seat to economics in the election, drawing cheers when he said the Obama administration "is more interested in protecting a lizard than a human life."

The requirement for contraceptive coverage was widely described as a harbinger of deeper incursions on freedom that would occur if Obama is re-elected.

In one example of the harsh accusations, Wayne LaPierre, executive vice president of the National Rifle Association, said that while the president had not tried to reign in gun ownership, "he's hiding his true intentions to destroy the Second Amendment in his second term."

"We're on the brink of seeing our freedom destroyed," LaPierre said.

The conference known as CPAC, which is sponsored by the American Conservative Union, is the largest annual gathering of conservatives, a political festival intended to lay out battle themes for the movement.

With high hopes of winning the presidential election, and with the leading Republican candidates vying for conservatives' allegiance, this year's event had an unusual excitement.

Half of the crowd were college students, many saying they were thrilled to rub shoulders with A-list politicians like Republican Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, as well as leaders from groups like the Heritage Foundation and the National Organization for Marriage.

Fox News correspondents were also a draw, with many students asking them to pose for iPhone snapshots.

The appearances by Santorum, Romney and Gingrich were highlights, and if the candidates did not each gain new supporters, they seemed to reassure many people that any of the three, including Mitt Romney, whose authenticity has been questioned, would carry their torch.

Spencer Larson, 53, an investment adviser from Moraga, Calif., said he had leaned toward Romney and decided to support him after hearing his speech.

"Romney probably didn't change anybody's mind," he said. But with his clear promises to, for example, overturn Obama's health-care law and support traditional marriage, Romney may have allayed fears, should he prevail.

Al Cardenas, a Florida Republican leader and chairman of the American Conservative Union, said he had worried, before the meeting began Thursday, that the increasingly sharp exchanges in the campaign would poison the atmosphere.

But as the meeting proceeded, he said in an interview, he had been pleased to see participants seemed to remain friendly, saving their ire for the president.