The Koch brothers, the conservative billionaires who are pouring millions into Senate races in states like North Carolina, Louisiana, and Michigan, are also increasingly at the receiving end of Senate Democratic campaign rhetoric. Majority Leader Harry Reid famously said on the floor that the GOP is “addicted to Koch.”
Sen. Kay Hagan of North Carolina, perhaps the biggest target of so-called “dark money” spending, regularly headlines emails with a disparaging remark about the Kochs. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has made reference to the Koch brothers in no fewer than 77 emails in the last four months. Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan, whose retirement is opening up a seat now being contested by Democratic Rep. Gary Peters and Republican Terri Lynn Land, said economic questions are likely to be the top issue in the Great Lakes State, but that outside spending could also tip the scales. That explains why Reid has been shining a light on the spending, Levin said.
“There’s a real question about the way in which huge gobs of outside money try to come into the states to try to influence the outcome,” he said. “The Koch brothers are the biggest example of it.”
But will the Democratic response—essentially talking about it through a megaphone—help in the election?
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