Yes, Palm Springs in California -- which, it should be noted, is not the first-caucus state or the first-primary state or the first-anything state on the 2016 Republican calendar.

Why? It was to Palm Springs that Walker, Cruz, Kentucky Senator Rand Paul and Florida Senator Marco Rubio traveled Sunday to bow and scrape before brothers Charles and David Koch -- and their network of very rich conservative donors. Rubio set the tone for the session by announcing to the assembled billionaires and lesser millionaires that he had no taste for any of the "anti-business rhetoric" coming out of Washington these days.

The Kochs hold their annual winter gathering of oligarchs at a swank resort that is about as far from Iowa as you can get, yet invited presidential prospects are more than willing to fly into the warm embrace of the billionaire class. That's because, while the Kochs are important, the Palm Springs meeting is about a lot more than brothers Charles and David -- especially now. One of two yearly events at which the wealthiest conservatives from across the country come together to meet with rising right-wing "stars," this year's winter gathering was held as the 2016 Republican race is rapidly picking up steam.

If a second-string Republican contender such as Walker or Rubio were to make a big impression with the assembled donors, that candidate could end up with the money power to compete with the fund-raising apparatus of likely leaders in the race such as Jeb Bush and Mitt Romney. Everyone knows the new math of American politics, which puts "the money primary" ahead of any contests involving actual voters. So invitations to Palm Springs were not just accepted -- they were coveted.

"Americans used to think Iowa and New Hampshire held the first caucus and primary in the nation every four years. Not anymore,"explains Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders."Now the 'Koch brothers primary' goes first to determine who wins the blessing and financial backing of the billionaire class. This is truly sad and shows us how far Citizens United has gone to undermine American democracy."

Sanders was referencing the five-year-old US Supreme Court ruling that struck down barriers to corporate spending to buy elections -- one of a series of decisions that have dramatically increased the influence of not just of corporations but of billionaires like the Koch brothers.

On Wednesday, Sanders introduced a constitutional amendment that would undo the High Court's Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission decision and a host of other rulings that ushered in an era of billionaire-defined presidential campaigns.

"People across the political spectrum are demanding that billionaires not be able to buy American democracy," says Sanders, noting that 16 states and more than 600 communities have called on Congress to begin the process of amending the Constitution to say that money is not speech, corporations are not people and citizens and their elected representatives have a right to organize elections where votes matter more than dollars.

Sanders, an independent who caucuses with the Democrats in the Senate, has been encouraged to seek the presidency in 2016.

Sanders is still in the process of deciding whether to run--and how. Though he has run all of his US House and Senate campaigns as an independent, the Vermonter might enter the Democratic primaries as a challenger to presumed front-runner Hillary Clinton.

Bernie Sanders will not, however, be entering "the Koch brothers primary."

More importantly, he is challenging "the money primary" mentality that has made the Kochs and their kind outsized players in American politics.