Bush, Cruz, Rubio and Walker to court Koch donors

[brooklynite]

Source: Politico

Four leading GOP presidential candidates – Jeb Bush, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio and Scott Walker – are traveling to a Southern California luxury hotel in coming days to make their cases directly to the Koch brothers and hundreds of other wealthy conservatives planning to spend close to $1 billion in the run-up to the 2016 election.

The gathering – hosted by Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce, the umbrella group in the Kochs’ increasingly influential network of political and public policy outfits – represents a major opportunity for the candidates at a pivotal moment in the presidential primary.
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The crowded field of GOP contenders is competing aggressively for the support of uncommitted mega-donors as the campaign hurtles towards its first debates in what’s expected to be a long and costly battle for the Republican nomination.

Freedom Partners’ annual summer conference is set for August 1 through August 3, and is expected to draw 450 of the biggest financiers of the right for sessions about the fiscally conservative policies and politics that animate the billionaire industrialist brothers Charles and David Koch and many of the donors in their network. Most have the capability to write seven- or even eight-figure checks to the super PACs fueling the GOP presidential primary, and a significant proportion have yet to settle on a 2016 choice, or are considering supporting multiple candidates. That includes Charles and David Koch, as well as Las Vegas casino mogul Sheldon Adelson and hedge fund billionaires Paul Singer, both of whom will be represented at the conference by advisers, and a number of other attendees of past conferences whose 2016 leanings are being closely watched.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/07/koch-brothers-wealthy-donors-gop-2016-freedom-partners-seminar-california-120663.html?hp=t1_r

[lark]

1. Wonder who will do the best job of Koch sucking?

Walker has the edge with tons of hands-on experience in this arena. Think Cruz is too crazy, and Bush already has lots of biggies on his side. I'd guess it's between Walker and Rubio for the primaries, then they'll go all in during the general for whoever the regressive is.

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

3. Ah dohno, but they both have purdy mouths. And Walker plays the banjo!

[Gothmog]

2. It will be interesting to see who the Kochs support besided Walker

[justhanginon]

4. I hope they bring their knee pads.

Groveling for money can be hard when you spend so much time on your knees begging for campaign cash from billionaires.
The Freedom Partners Chamber of Corruption does not just hand out money without toadylike behavior. Yeccchhhh!

[Herman4747]

5. This is Truly Obscene

[brooklynite]

6. UPDATE: Carly Fiorina joins Koch Brothers 2016 summit while Rand Paul won't

Longshot presidential candidate Carly Fiorina has won an invitation to the powerful Koch Brothers' donor summit this weekend, an opportunity for her to impress some of the Republican Party's most well-heeled contributors.

Fiorina, with little money and little support in early polls, will appear at the Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce's semi-annual event this weekend, the organization confirmed. The line-up in California was first reported by USA Today.

Joining Fiorina will be Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. Fiorina's inclusion at the exclusive retreat comes as Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, who reportedly performed poorly at the Brothers' most recent "seminar" in January, will not court the powerful this weekend. Though the Kentucky Republican is not scheduled to attend, Paul spokesman Sergio Gor said he was invited to the event and could drop in.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/27/politics/carly-fiorina-koch-summit-invite/