Colorado senatorial candidate Cory Gardner spent last weekend with Tywin Lannister the Koch brothers at a palatial resort in Orange County, California. He was there with fellow politicians Marco Rubio, Mitch McConnell, and others, doing something-or-other, which they won't disclose, but you can bet it has to do with spending a lot of money to try to win some Senate seats.
The Koch's spent $870,000 on security for the meeting. All other business at the resort was cancelled, including the golf course. The weekend was topped off with dinner at La Casa Pacifica, the one-time home and now the Shrine of Richard Nixon. Theme of the meeting? “American Courage: Our Commitment to a Free Society”.
Someone reported to the Nation magazine that 300 other billioinaires also attended the meeting with the goal of raising $500 million to take the Senate for the GOP and another %500 million "to make sure Hillary Clinton is never president." (The source might exaggerate. As the Nation itself notes, there are 492 billionaires in the United States. Did 60% of them show up at the Koch soiree?)
Whatever the number, there's little doubt they will raise the billion dollars. Koch's alone gave $400,000,000 in 2012, which is chump change for them. (You'll miss the $100 you gave to Mark Udall much more than they will miss $400 mil.)
Cory Gardner's senate race against Mark Udall in Colorado is on everyone's radar screen. Control of the Senate is likely to go down to the wire, and the prospect of flipping Colorado must be making Tywin Lannister's the Koch's mouth water. It's a close race and Udall, truth be said, can be a rather wooden candidate.
Udall, however, will win. Colorado is a purple state, not a red one, and Gardner needs to break out beyond the Republican base. He knows this would be difficult, especially with his name all over the Personhood Amendment, i.e. a fertilized cell is a person. Even many right-to-lifers don't support it.
So Gardner did the worst possible thing. He flip-flopped with the lame excuse that he didn't know some of the implications of the Personhood Amendment, and he's oh-so-much-smarter now. The truth is that Personhood was an albatross he tried to throw overboard because the state of Colorado is oh-so-much-bigger than the (very conservative) 4th congressional district he currently represents. Gardner is going to be eating "Personhood Amendment" straight through to November.
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