patrick.net

Many of the Wall Street financiers who have been mainstays of Republican “super PACs” in the six years since the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision have rallied behind Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, betting that he is the party’s best chance to win a general election battle against Hillary Clinton.

In the last six months of 2015, F.E.C. records show, a “super PAC” backing Mr. Rubio raised $14.3 million, including $2.5 million each from the hedge fund founders Paul Singer and Ken Griffin. The super PAC also drew significant support from donors who previously gave to groups backing Jeb Bush, among them Chris Cline, a coal executive, and Brian Ballard, a prominent Florida lobbyist.

But the steady rise of Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, a Tea Party favorite reviled by party leaders, has unleashed a new counter-establishment of conservative donors, some from outside the universe of traditional Republican giving. They include wealthy evangelicals, libertarian businessmen, Israel hawks and others disenchanted by the party’s past nominees, and are drawn to Mr. Cruz’s uncompromising social conservatism and his promise to disrupt the party’s traditional power brokers in Washington.

Mr. Cruz’s backers include the Wilks family of Texas, who made a fortune in the shale oil boom and are prominent donors to anti-abortion groups; Edward Czuker, a Los Angeles real estate developer and board member of the Republican Jewish Coalition; and the Illinois businessman Richard Uihlein, who gave $1 million to a pro-Cruz super PAC in January.

Meanwhile, with the Koch Brothers:

INDIAN WELLS, California — Most of the 500 wealthy conservatives gathered at a Southern California retreat this week know they want to see a Republican back in the White House, but many don't know what to do with the billionaire who wants to "make America great again."

Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump was not at the biannual Charles and David Koch-organized conference over the weekend, but he was a constant presence on the minds of many here at the seminar hosted by the billionaire executives known for their active role in Republican politics.

"We had a bet — I think I'm losing right now — how far we could go before the name of the Republican front-runner was mentioned," said Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska, a Trump critic who participated in a panel discussion at the opening dinner Saturday evening.

The Koch network is unlikely to endorse a Republican presidential candidate in the primary, but what is less clear is if the conservative activists who spent $400 million in the last presidential election will actively try to defeat Trump in the primary. It's possible that they will and it's a decision that will be made after the early primary states have voted, a senior official at the Koch-backed political action committee Freedom Partners Action Fund told NBC News.

This was only the second seminar that has allowed reporters. A small number of journalists were invited to cover the event. Six news organizations, including NBC News, accepted in exchange for following some guidelines that included preserving participants' identity. Attendees were able to speak to the press if they chose.

Trump, who is maintaining a solid lead in most national and early primary state polls on the eve of the Iowa caucuses, is not supported by the Kochs. He doesn't even rank in the top five of top Republican presidential candidates that the billionaire brothers have publicly considered supporting, the officials said.

The Kochs believe that Trump's positions don't align with their federal fiscal restraint and free-market priorities, according to the Freedom Partners officials.

Stay tuned!