A man-sized dolphin with a large flipper jutting from his side greeted guests at this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington this week. Over his costume he wore a T-shirt with the words: “Mitt Romney, flip-flopper.”

Giving his name as “Flip”, the 22-year-old student says the former governor of Massachusetts, who is seeking to be the Republican presidential nominee in 2008, “is just another flip-flopper from Massachusetts. He has flip-ped on every important conservative issue, abortion, gay marriage and gun rights. He duped everyone in the state.”