GOP’s Demographic Problem, Koch Brothers’ Donors and More

The Koch Brothers’ Million Dollar Donors:

If you want a case study in what’s wrong with the current campaign finance system, look no further than Charles and David Koch. Twice a year, the billionaire brothers hold exclusive retreats during which they try to raise massive amounts of cash from America’s super rich and powerful to bolster their right-wing causes, all under a veil of secrecy. Well, it appears the secret is out, as Mother Jones was able to get a list of those who attended the latest gathering in June and donated more than $1 million to help the brothers’ conservative agenda. (Read more)

Boehner Changes His Tune on Romney: House Speaker John Boehner said at a recent fundraiser that Americans “probably aren’t going to fall in love with Mitt Romney.” Even so, the Ohio Republican now says that he would be “enthusiastic” about voting for the presumed Republican presidential nominee in November, and so too will Americans (apparently, even if they don’t fall in love with Mitt, their enthusiasm for his candidacy will know no bounds). In walking back his original remarks, Boehner said the point he (rather poorly) tried to make is that the election would be a referendum on President Obama’s economic policies. That kind of makes it sound as though Boehner will be enthusiastically voting against Obama rather than eagerly supporting Romney. (Read more)

GOP’s (Lack of) Diversity Problem: Republican strategist Ed Rollins was asked on Fox News about the stereotype that the GOP is a bunch of old, white guys (Gretchen Carlson probably could have also added “rich” to that list). Here’s his pretty candid response: “It is a bunch of old, white guys, and unfortunately, a lot of them are fat like me — like Haley Barbour, my former deputy, and others. We need to basically broaden the base, we need to have more women, we need to have more Latinos, we need to have more African-Americans.” Wouldn’t it stand to reason that if Republicans would like to broaden their appeal, their first step should be to adopt policies that cater to diverse groups of people, rather than just to their base? (Read more)

iPhone, Droid Users Support Obama: Your choice of cellphone says a lot about you. For example, do you own an iPhone or Android? If so, then most likely you will support Barack Obama over Mitt Romney in November, according to a new Harris Interactive survey conducted on behalf of Velti, a technology marketing firm. The results showed that 49 percent of iPhone and Android users will back Obama, while 31 percent favor Romney. Said Velta Chief Marketing Officer Krishna Subramanian: “The results of this survey demonstrate that the smartphone market is becoming a whole new demographic that candidates must take into consideration when building a comprehensive campaign strategy.” (Read more)

Video of the Day: What happens when you try to re-enact a Mitt Romney fundraiser in the Hamptons based on quotes from his donors that appeared in recent news articles? “The Great Mittsby,” that’s what.

— Posted by Tracy Bloom