Money for Republicans

by David Safier

This falls into the category of bad news/maybe less bad news.

First the bad news: The Koch Brothers say they're planning to drop $200 million or more on the 2012 election. When you're billionaires, that kind of expenditure is hardly enough to get your hair mussed.

Now the maybe-less bad news: The Koch Brothers and Karl Rove, who is also raising a crap-load of money, don't like each other. To the Koch Brothers, Rove, et al, are sell-outs who gave us people who aren't conservative enough. Like, for instance, George W. Bush. To Rove, the Brothers K are free-market crazies who refuse to moderate their tone, even if it hurts Republicans' election chances.

Even with duplication and contradictory messages, that's a hell of a lot of money out there, above and beyond what candidates raise themselves. Putting half a million into a key congressional race, say, can change the whole dynamic. And independent expenditure ads which answer to no one can swing wild and allow candidates to distance themselves from the allegations against their opponents. If a Democrat doesn't have the money to respond, the charges stick.