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Potential Republican presidential candidates paraded before more than 3,000 conservative activists and donors from across the country here for a two-day summit that ended Saturday, touting their records and trying to look like the future of their party.

The eighth annual Defending the American Dream Summit was sponsored by Americans for Prosperity, among the most powerful conservative political groups in the country, backed by GOP donors Charles and David Koch, whose family amassed a fortune in the oil business.

It's not clear who the Koch brothers might back, given their support for Republican and libertarian causes.

David Koch attended the summit, at one point addressing the crowd and thanking the speakers, in particular Texas Gov. Rick Perry for hosting the summit.

Both Perry and junior Texas Sen. Ted Cruz received raucous applause when they appeared, with many chanting Saturday, "Run, Ted, run!"

"Oddly enough, that's the same thing my wife, Heidi, says to me when I go to the gym," Cruz quipped, never revealing during his speech or a briefing afterward whether he plans to run though he presented a pretty clear platform.

Cruz vowed to roll back Obamacare and hold the line against "amnesty" for immigrants who entered the country illegally, daring President Obama to "join me at the border." He suggested that the U.S. put more economic pressure on Russia for its actions in Ukraine and attack Islamic State "bomb them back to the Stone Age."

"We need a president who will stand up and use every tool at our disposal," Cruz said to applause and repeated standing ovations.

Greg Danson, 30, a conservative from Houston who works in the oil industry, said he was wowed by Cruz, who he said appears more intellectual than Perry, more like the future of the party than the folksy past of George W. Bush.

"I don't think Perry can win. He's not as good in debates. He's not going to beat Hillary," Danson said, alluding to the presumed candidacy of former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. Perry, who has been visiting key primary states, emphasized his tough stance on border security.

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Potential GOP presidential hopefuls woo donors, activists at summit