The Koch brothers $125 million campaign spending in context

The news that the Koch brothers intend to spend at least $125 million more on buying the Senate (on top of the $35 million or so they've already spent) is sobering. Yes, they have a losing message, and yes so far all the money they've spent has gotten them bupkis, but it's still an astounding amount of money. Steven Benen quantifies just how much money it is.

We just recently learned how much money the major-party campaign committees have in the bank for the 2014 cycle. For example, according to the most recent filings, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which is responsible for supporting Dem candidates in 435 U.S. House races, announced it has $40.2 million to be used in this year’s midterms. Its GOP counterpart, the National Republican Congressional Committee, has about $31.2 million in cash on hand for the year.

On the Senate side, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has a little more than $22 million in the bank, while the National Republican Senatorial Committee has $15.9 million in cash on hand.

There will be more money raised by the campaign committees in the intervening months, but there's no way in hell they reach the numbers the Kochs are spending. As Benen says, that means Democrats have to try to compete against Republicans and against the Kochs.

The Republicans have a distinct disadvantage in that people hate them and their message is a losing one. But they have the advantage of having a rabid base that votes, and that millions of dollars of Koch money will help turn out. As Markos wrote, "our problem isn't winning over the American people. It's getting them to the polls."