Lots of red meat, but no main course

The Donald? Why not?

“You’re hired!’’ shouted someone from the audience.

“If I run, and I win, this country will be respected again,’’ Trump declared in remarks heavy with the sort of bravado and bombast that has helped make him a household name in America.

Trump’s improbable flirtation with a presidential bid underscores the high degree of uncertainty over the direction of the primary, a vacuum created in large part by the rift between Republican establishment leaders and the Tea Party movement. Conservatives milling about the convention said none of the dozen or so would-be candidates who are taking turns at the convention podium has demonstrated a clear ability to unify the party, including one of the front-runners in national polls, Mitt Romney. Tea Party activists view the 2008 candidate with distrust.

“Right now you have 28 people mentioned as presidential candidates — and make that 29 with Donald Trump,’’ said Saul Anuzis, a Republican National Committee member from Michigan. “It’s a wide-open ballgame, and that’s what makes it exciting. We have a race.’’

Romney is scheduled to speak today, and the pressure will be on for him to articulate an overarching vision that could provide the basis for a broader GOP coalition. He also may seek, once again, to defend the Massachusetts health insurance program he established as Bay State governor, a plan that has drawn criticism from conservatives for its high costs and a requirement that residents purchase coverage.

In addition to Trump, Michele Bachmann, Newt Gingrich, and Rick Santorum spoke to the crowd yesterday. Romney and five other potential presidential hopefuls are slated to speak today. Haley Barbour is the only possible candidate speaking tomorrow, when the results of a straw poll vote will be announced to cap the proceedings. Even with the big roster of potential candidates, some convention-goers said they were essentially choosing “none of the above.’’

“I want Chris Christie,’’ said Larry Helminiak, a 70-year-old retiree from Sykesville, Md., referring to the New Jersey governor. His wife prefers newly-elected Senator Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania. Christie so far has ruled out a run, and Toomey has given no inkling that he would jump in the race.

Nearly all of the likely presidential candidates are planning to address the conference, with the notable exceptions of Sarah Palin, the 2008 vice presidential nominee, and former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, who both have said they had scheduling conflicts. Another possible candidate, Jon Huntsman, is still working in the Obama administration as ambassador to China but is planning to resign and explore a presidential run.

The conference has traditionally been considered an early proving ground for conservative candidates. Unlike in 2007, however, no major candidate this year has announced that they are officially running.

With some 11,000 attendees, the event had a festive atmosphere — and a strong Tea Party flavor. Rand Paul, the new senator from Kentucky, stoked the crowd with red-meat lines about cutting budgets. In the crowd, one man dressed up as Uncle Sam, another had donned Colonial garb. The National Rifle Association set up a virtual shooting game in the basement.

Yet these energized troops said they are still looking for a leader. Trump, who said he will make a decision by June on whether to run for president, suggested he was reluctantly considering leaving his business empire to run because of a lack of a strong candidate.

“I wish there were a candidate that I thought would be fantastic,’’ he said, “because I love what I am doing.’’

Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, chose to look at the lack of a clear front-runner in a more positive context: “Part of it is we have lots of talent — we have lots of people who could jump in. Partly because we win, people want to play.’’

The Tea Party’s influence on the primary remains a volatile factor that candidates are still measuring. The candidate who made the clearest push for the movement’s support yesterday was Bachmann, a Minnesota Republican representative who has signaled a possible run with several trips to Iowa, the first state in the primary schedule.

“The first political breath I take every morning is to repeal ObamaCare,’’ Bachmann said yesterday morning to wild applause.

“Socialism might sell well in a Harvard faculty lounge,’’ she added, calling Obama’s health law “clearly the crown jewel of socialism.’’

Santorum criticized Obama’s approach to foreign policy. “He has refused to look at the situation in Iran and Egypt and around that world and to call evil, evil. To identify the enemy.’’

The former senator from Pennsylvania also said the GOP should not downplay its positions on social issues, an approach some Republicans have recommended as a way to avoid intra-party divisions and closely focus on fiscal issues.

“Social issues, those are the issues that matter,’’ said Santorum. “Those are the issues we can’t retreat from.’’

Gingrich, the former House speaker, took the stage with great fanfare, bounding in from a side door and winding through the crowd as “Eye of the Tiger’’ blared from the speakers. He criticized Obama in harsh terms, but his 30-minute speech was thicker on policy than the populist rhetoric of the Tea Party.

“2010 was the appetizer,’’ he said. “2012 is the entree.’’

Gingrich trained his focus on replacing the Environmental Protection Agency with a new agency that he said would help create jobs and reward innovative technologies.

In addition to the last-minute addition of Trump to the lineup, former vice president Dick Cheney surprised the hall when he arrived to introduce former secretary of defense Donald Rumsfeld. Some in the crowd booed and shouted insults, as others tried to drown them out with chants of “USA! USA!’’

During a quiet moment, someone in the crowd — apparently tongue in cheek — floated another name for the primary field.

“Cheney for president!’’

Matt Viser can be reached at maviser@globe.com.