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Former Koch Dark Money Group Targets Ted Cruz In Iowa
HuffPost ^ | 10/24/15 | Paul Blumenthal

Posted on 11/24/2015 8:52:05 AM PST by VinL

The proxy battle between Sen. Ted Cruz (R Texas) and Sen. Marco Rubio (R Fla.) in the Republican presidential primary heated up on Tuesday as an Arizona based nonprofit launched a new advertising campaign in Iowa against Cruz.

American Encore has purchased at least $55,000 worth of ad space on broadcast stations in Des Moines and Cedar Rapids, and plans to spend up to $200,000. The ad uses footage from the Nov. 13 terror attacks in Paris to pivot to an attack on Cruz for supporting the USA Freedom Act of 2015, which the ad states was crafted to "weaken America’s ability to identify and hunt down terrorists."

The group, previously known as the Center to Protect Patient Rights, is headed by Sean Noble, a former major player in the Koch political universe. Noble was reportedly ejected from the Koch network after a poor electoral showing in 2012 and an involvement in funneling $11 million through his organization into a California ballot initiative campaign that led to a high-profile investigation. There were also concerns that he was diverting large sums to his consulting firm to greatly enrich himself...

While the advertisement does not mention Rubio, Noble is a public supporter of the freshman Florida senator. Rubio is also a co-sponsor of legislation introduced by Sen. Tom Cotton (R Ark.) to delay the USA Freedom Act’s suspension of the National Security Agency's bulk collection of phone metadata...

Rubio's campaign has benefited from the spending of dark money more than any other presidential campaign. On top of the $200,000 in planned spending by American Encore, the nonprofit group Conservative Solutions Project has spent more than $8 million on issue advertising promoting Rubio.

(Excerpt) Read more at huffingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: cruz; cutthroat; elections; rubio; trump
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To: subterfuge

Oh...could be.


21 posted on 11/24/2015 9:33:20 AM PST by G Larry (ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS impose SLAVE WAGES on LEGAL Immigrants.)
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To: VinL

Vin, I use your statement only to leapfrog, but not to single you out.

Trump and Cruz supporters would be wise to understand each other.

The “Mississippi Treatment” is the GOP go-to strategy after it worked so superbly at the state level, and it will be just as happily employed against Cruz, as it is surely being played out now against Trump.

If we stubbornly refuse to coalesce around a conservative front runner who is independent of the Wall Street globalist donor class and the TPP/illegal immigration compromisers, we don’t really have an electorate smart enough for democracy to work. Do we?

This seems insane to me to fight like cats and dogs against Trump and think it helps Cruz, who has half the guns to fight back. Does Anyone really think their guy can survive, if a guy that is busting 43% already on an issues poll, can be taken down?

May I be the first to say— that if Trump could be felled, that Cruz is going straight through the floor too. This is the playbook. Conservatives will never get such a heavily evangelical conservative nominee out of the South, not in a now secular USA. Bank that.

This is about the GOP forces either endlessly resurrecting Jeb, or buying the mule Rubio, otherwise, if one of these or Kasich can’t drag their weight, they will cheerfully take Hillary.

The goal is TPP/illegal immigration and fundamentally transforming America. It is not to elect some conservative as the nominee. LOL!

Trump just was guilty of over performing. And, he still is.


22 posted on 11/24/2015 9:33:43 AM PST by RitaOK ( VIVA CRISTO REY / Public education is the farm team for more Marxists coming)
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To: RitaOK

As a Cruz supporter, I don’t bash Trump for the reasons you state. I think there are a lot of us out here.


23 posted on 11/24/2015 9:40:19 AM PST by subterfuge (TED CRUZ FOR POTUS!)
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To: subterfuge

I appreciate that. And, I’m relieved. I don’t know about your approach and tone, personally, of course, but there is certainly a rumpus going from many resentful Cruzers, and naturally, Trumpsters are really starting to push back. Thanks, for your reply.


24 posted on 11/24/2015 9:52:10 AM PST by RitaOK ( VIVA CRISTO REY / Public education is the farm team for more Marxists coming)
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To: VinL

Ted might consider seeking a meeting with the Kochs. He is so good at presenting his case, he might just win them over. I think they really do care about the country, they are not as bad as the Chamber of Commerce. If they want to continue to fund the GOPe instead, well, they can call themselves crony capitalists, but not patriots.


25 posted on 11/24/2015 10:04:42 AM PST by Defiant (I wouldn't have to mansplain if it weren't for all those wymidiots.)
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To: VinL

Trump/Cruz.

Make the pseudoGOP, GOPe, and uber-liberal cheerleaders’ heads explode. It would be worth the vote just to watch these assclowns melt down.


26 posted on 11/24/2015 10:28:54 AM PST by factoryrat (We are the producers, the creators. Grow it, mine it, build it.)
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To: Defiant

“Ted might consider seeking a meeting with the Kochs. He is so good at presenting his case, he might just win them over. I think they really do care about the country, they are not as bad as the Chamber of Commerce. If they want to continue to fund the GOPe instead, well, they can call themselves crony capitalists, but not patriots.”

I think your last sentence is correct. The Kochs are not much different than any of the rest of the big-money boys. Their interest is buying access and not mattering who wins. They vote with their wallets for ths sole purpose of maintaining their wallets! End of story.


27 posted on 11/24/2015 10:52:30 AM PST by vette6387
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To: RitaOK

“The “Mississippi Treatment” is the GOP go-to strategy after it worked so superbly at the state level, and it will be just as happily employed against Cruz, as it is surely being played out now against Trump.”

But if this is true, where are they going to get a perambulating corpse like Thad Cochran? Well there is Yebbie, but it looks as though he’s already assumed room temperature for all practical purposes.


28 posted on 11/24/2015 10:55:06 AM PST by vette6387
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To: vette6387

If they are only seeking to buy politicians, then they can waste their money on Yeb and Mario, and they will have less of it. If they are smart businessmen, they might just want to hedge their bets with Ted. Ted can’t be bought, but the Kochs might figure out that they stand to make more money with a booming economy than in a crony capitalist system trying to squeeze money from a poor, declining nation. But you will never go broke putting your money on greed and stupidity.


29 posted on 11/24/2015 11:40:08 AM PST by Defiant (I wouldn't have to mansplain if it weren't for all those wymidiots.)
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To: libbylu

Trump attacked Cruz?

Can you post it?


30 posted on 11/24/2015 11:45:15 AM PST by Amntn
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To: RitaOK

The goal is TPP/illegal immigration and fundamentally transforming America. It is not to elect some conservative as the nominee. LOL!

***************

Hey Rita, just got back home.

I have to respectfully disagree with designation of the “goal”. You correctly identify the threshold problem as the GOP establishment. However, one must take that point a step further; that is, so long as the current elite remains in control of the GOP, there can be no fundamental transformation in America.

Our goal then can only be dismantling the current GOP establishment, and returning the GOP to its limited government origins.

As for Trump v. Cruz, I’m still not certain that they are not in fact working in concert. I touched on that fact with you some time back when Trump went after Carson. You may recall, I indicated that it seemed Trump was helping Cruz in Iowa, especially where it would have been better for Trump to allow Carson and Cruz to split the Iowa evangelicals.

Trump went further when he rhetorically asked if “Iowans were stupid”, and still further when he opted out of appearing at Vander Plaat’s forum. Trump is not dumb, and these were not smart political moves.

It seems to me that Trump is ceding Iowa to Cruz. But, at the same time, Cruz attacked Rubio. There was no reason for that attack- it was premature. But, the effect of the attack would be to help Trump in NH, where Trump’s only real challenge is Rubio, (Cruz currently only has the hope for 3rd or 4th place).

It would not be beyond imagination that Cruz formulated a strategy whereby Trump and him would freeze out the Gop-e candidates in the first 4 primary states.

Anyway, we’ll wait to see how Trump reacts to Cruz’s rise in the polls.


31 posted on 11/24/2015 1:44:16 PM PST by VinL (It is better to suffer every wrong, then to consent to wrong.)
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To: VinL

Thank you for your reply to my glass-half-full remarks. I do appreciate your patience and hope you are quite correct with your analysis.

I had been reluctant to think that Trump, so early in the race, would have actually aligned with anyone in such a scheme (in the best sense of the word). However, two great minds together make anything possible, given there are no two men running with more disdain, and less use, for the corrupt GOP than do Trump and Cruz.

This would be about taking over the Party, which is certainly the goal of most conservatives, among the base.

I can see McConnell and Ryan both making governance miserable for either Trump or Cruz. McConnell is aligned with the Establishment and their financeirs, and Ryan is aligned with the Establishment and the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, on all the income redistribution and illegal immigration issues.

Thanks, Vin.


32 posted on 11/24/2015 4:03:23 PM PST by RitaOK ( VIVA CRISTO REY / Public education is the farm team for more Marxists coming)
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To: vette6387

Methinks their pick is Hillary.

Yes, if they can not resurrect Jebbers no later than March, and Rubio can’t jitter himself into a saliva slinging lead somewhere, what recourse do the GOP have, but Hillary?

After all, this is about locking in TPP, illegal immigration, the Cheap Labor Express, and enriching the globalist donors. They must have a viable candidate, willing to deliver all this.


33 posted on 11/24/2015 4:18:52 PM PST by RitaOK ( VIVA CRISTO REY / Public education is the farm team for more Marxists coming)
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