"... the Koch network could have a major impact on the presidential race if it decided to engage heavily."

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4 GOP hopefuls expected to attend Koch event
The invitees are all potential 2016 presidential contenders.
By Kenneth P. Vogel, January 19, 2015

Four leading Republican presidential prospects are expected to appear this weekend in the California desert before an exclusive gathering of rich conservatives convened by the Koch brothers’ political operation, several sources tell POLITICO.

Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas, Rand Paul of Kentucky and Marco Rubio of Florida, and Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin, received coveted invitations to speak to the vaunted network assembled by the billionaire industrialist mega-donors Charles and David Koch, the sources said.

The meeting, set to be held at a Palm Springs hotel, is the annual winter gathering of Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce, the nonprofit group that oversees the network of fiscally conservative groups formed with help from the Kochs and their operatives.

None of the White House prospects invited to the meeting this weekend responded to questions about whether they planned to attend and, if so, what they planned to discuss. A spokesman for Freedom Partners declined to comment on the function, which is closed to the press.

It comes at a pivotal time for both the Koch network, which has become increasingly involved in partisan politics, and for the sprawling Republican presidential field, which some party insiders fear could be headed for a chaotic and costly primary.

Jeb Bush and Mitt Romney, both of whom are eyeing runs of their own, are considered the favorites of rich Republican donors from the party’s establishment wing, who traditionally have exerted great sway over presidential nominating fights.

But neither is necessarily a perfect fit for the donors and operatives in the Kochs’ expanding donor network, where small government, free market policies tend to be valued over aggressive stances on military intervention or social issues. That could present an opening for prospective presidential hopefuls who have emphasized fiscal issues more than foreign policy, like Paul, Walker and Indiana Gov. Mike Pence.

Pence is not expected in Palm Springs this weekend. But he has spoken at past gatherings and is considered a favorite of the Kochs’ allies, as is Walker, whose fight against his state’s public employee unions over collective bargaining rights made him something of a test case for the expansion of the Koch network and its most robust political arm, Americans for Prosperity.

Stan Hubbard, a billionaire Minnesota media mogul and mega-donor who has attended Koch donor gatherings, but is not headed to Palm Springs, called Walker “a hell of a good man.” Yet, Hubbard also had positive things to say about Bush, a former Florida governor (“a really nice guy”) and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (“a good communicator”), while dismissing Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, as “a terrible candidate,” and questioning whether Cruz or Paul could win a general election.

“What scares me is the ultra-right-wing people – which I would be, but you can’t get elected being ultra-right-wing – so what scares me is them screwing it up by supporting someone like the senator from Texas,” said Hubbard of Cruz. “I mean, forget it.”

Cruz and Rubio have staked out aggressive foreign policy stances that in some ways seem out of step with the more non-interventionist of the Koch network’s donors. But they’re also seen as unlikely to be able to keep up with Bush or Romney when it comes to corralling support from more hawkish mega-donors in the GOP’s Wall Street or country club wings.

Major donors are expected to play an outsized role in the 2016 presidential election, especially in the primaries, thanks partly to a pair of 2010 federal court rulings that paved the way for super PACs that can accept unlimited checks to support candidates.

While the Kochs’ operation has stayed out of GOP primaries, the possibility of its donors or groups backing a candidate in the 2016 GOP presidential primary has tantalized the political class.

The 2012 general election marked the first time that AFP aired ads expressly opposing a candidate — President Barack Obama. AFP went on to spend heavily on ads attacking Democratic Senate candidates in the run-up to the 2014 midterms, and was credited with helping Republicans capture the Senate. All told, the groups in the Koch network combined to spend about $290 million ahead of the midterms.

The Freedom Partners donor meetings – which started in 2003 and are now held twice a year – are central to the expansion of the Koch network. Dubbed “seminars” within Koch circles, they bring together dozens of conservative business leaders from across the country – including a healthy contingent of heartland industrialists like the Kochs – for three days of presentations from top conservative politicians, operatives and thought leaders, including American Enterprise Institute President Arthur Brooks, pundit Erick Erickson and pollster Frank Luntz.

The seminars typically conclude with a fundraising session of sorts where donors pledge donations that can reach into the seven figures to support policy and political efforts discussed during the seminars. Freedom Partners, which was formed in late 2011, disseminates the cash among a host of groups in the network.

There’s a lot of discussion among donors and strategists within the Koch operation about whether to wade into the Republican presidential primary, according to an operative familiar with the operation.

“These funders just had a very successful cycle and I imagine some of the folks want to go for the big enchilada,” said the operative, asserting the Koch network could have a major impact on the presidential race if it decided to engage heavily. “They are the most sophisticated operation, which would be a huge asset” for Republicans.
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