It's going to be a major contest in the California desert this weekend to see who can bow and grovel the lowest and jump the highest for
the Koch brothers approval, and of course money, for the 2016 Republican nomination.
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 megadonors 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. […]
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.
With Ted Cruz and Rand Paul in the race, of course it's going to be chaotic and costly. That makes the Kochs courting them interesting and potentially problematic for their members. Consider what Stan Hubbard, "a billionaire Minnesota media mogul and megadonor" who goes to these big Koch "seminars" says about Cruz: “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. I mean, forget it." Even right-wing nut jobs are practical enough to want to win.
Meanwhile, the Kochs' operation is remaining coy about whether it will actively engage in the presidential primary. In 2012, they spent most of their money attacking President Obama. But of course the megadonors that give to the Kochs and make up their network give directly to candidates. The Kochs seem unlikely to pick one over the others, and frankly they don't need to. Any Republican who might win the White House is certainly going to be doing the Kochs' bidding, because ultimately, they own the party.