Establishment Republican money finally got what it paid for — an electoral wave.
After two cycles during which conservative megadonors’ record spending was plagued by flawed candidates and internecine squabbling, their side’s big money operatives got to do some gloating on election night.
Conservatives tweaked their playbook to spend bigger and earlier to crush tea party insurgents and define Democratic candidates. And Republicans won most of the Senate races in which they prosecuted that plan — including Iowa, Mississippi, North Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia.
And they vowed to pick up the beat again in 2016, even as the party’s conservative wing pledged costly and damaging primary battles in response — starting with the presidential race. “We’ve entered a season of bloody Republican primaries where conservatives try to pick off Republicans and where Republicans try to pour as much money into the primaries as possible,” said Erick Erickson, the conservative blogger who allied with tea party groups that challenged establishment Republicans.
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