Reprinted from The Nation
Senator Joni Ernst from Iowa prepares to deliver the Republican Address to the Nation.
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Considering the sorry circumstance of Republicans who have been tapped to deliver responses to President Obama's State of the Union addresses, the party leaders who chose Joni Ernst to answer this year's speech may not have been doing the newly elected senator from Iowa any favors.
But the party bosses were respecting the influence of billionaire campaign donors Charles and David Koch, who were early and enthusiastic proponents of Ernst's leap from the Iowa legislature -- where she had served a mere three years -- to the United States Senate. A year ago, Ernst was still something of a long-shot contender, even in the race for the Republican nomination to replace retiring Senator Tom Harkin, D-Iowa. Polls had her trailing former energy-industry CEO Mark Jacobs, a millionaire who was prepared to spend a lot of his own money to secure the nomination, and to take on Democrat Bruce Braley, a sitting congressman who had the advantages of name recognition and a substantial campaign treasury.
But Ernst had some friends who would help her beat the odds. She had been active with the Koch-funded American Legislative Exchange Council, a network of right-wing legislators who sponsor "model legislation" crafted in conjunction with representatives of multinational corporations.
According to The Hill, the Kochs took a "particular interest in helping her campaign." Ernst was the first candidate in an open 2014 Senate race to benefit from "maxed out" personal contributions by the Kochs. And Koch-backed groups such as Americans for Prosperity and the Freedom Partners Action Fund poured millions of dollars into Iowa, where Ernst enjoyed a $14 million outside-spending advantage over Braley.
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