Mayor Bloomberg holding an AR-15 assault rifle like the one used in Newtown while announcing a gun trafficking bust last October. (Photo: Getty)

When the smoke cleared at a movie theater in Aurora, Colo., in the wee hours of a Friday morning last July, 12 people were dead, 58 were injured and Mayor Michael Bloomberg was in New York, readying an assault of his own.

The campaign that Mr. Bloomberg and his “gun team” came up with in the hours and days after Aurora involved carpet-bombing Washington with millions from the mayor’s immense fortune and a media blitz that would be deployed following the next massacre.

“He was so frustrated by the lack of conversation around this issue ... that he decided to force the conversation himself,” Howard Wolfson, deputy mayor for government affairs and communications, told Politicker.

By 5 a.m., just a few hours after the shooting, Mr. Bloomberg was emailing members of his staff, preparing a media offensive against President Barack Obama, Mitt Romney and what he perceived as their campaigns’ silence on gun control.

At 8 that morning, the mayor came out swinging during his regular appearance on WOR’s John Gambling Show.

“Maybe it’s time that the two people who want to be president of the United States stand up and tell us what they are going to do about it, because this is obviously a problem across the country,” Mr. Bloomberg said. “No matter where you stand on the Second Amendment, no matter where you stand on guns, we have a right to hear from both of them concretely, not just in generalities. Specifically, what are they going to do about guns?”

The moment had come—in fact, it had come and gone several times. The next time a tragedy like Aurora went down, he would be ready.

In his years building the business empire that made him a billionaire, Mr. Bloomberg developed a unique fluency for numbers and learned to view the world through a statistical prism. Multiple people close to Mr. Bloomberg have said that the figure he’s most preoccupied with is the number people in his city who die of preventable causes. This obsession with bringing down the death rate has driven the mayor’s notorious crusades against smoking and sugar, and according to John Feinblatt, the mayor’s chief adviser, it was a major factor behind his decision to step into the national gun control debate several years ago.

“This was part head, part heart. The head part was, he had been extremely successful, with [NYPD Commissioner Ray] Kelly and others, in driving crime down during the first term, but I think there was a recognition that, to continue to drive it down, one had to do something about guns. I think that the mayor is always driven by data, and there’s one data point that’s sort of hard to miss, which is that 85 percent of the crime guns in New York City come from out of state, so you knew that to really address this, you had to address this nationally,” explained Mr. Feinblatt. “I think the heart part was ... every mayor gets that call at 2 in the morning and has to arrive at the emergency room and break the news that’s going to break somebody’s heart ... You see gun violence up close [and] personally in a way that federal officials just don’t.”

Mr. Bloomberg’s first national initiative was called Mayors Against Illegal Guns, a group he co-founded with Boston Mayor Tom Menino in 2006 to address what Mr. Menino described at the time as “a crisis on the streets of our nation.” In the years that followed, the group grew from 15 mayors who attended the inaugural summit at Gracie Mansion to more than 900. They shared gun control strategies and launched a PR campaign that included two Super Bowl ads.

It took the Aurora shooting to propel Mr. Bloomberg to kick those efforts into high gear. Both Mr. Wolfson and Mr. Feinblatt said the shooting was the event that defined the mayor’s current approach to gun violence. “It all flows immediately from that moment,” Mr. Feinblatt said.

Mr. Bloomberg’s anti-gun battle plan would be driven by data and paid for largely with the mayor’s vast personal fortune, allowing him to fuel the national conversation on gun control. Mr. Wolfson said this strategy “didn’t really crystallize until after Aurora” and stemmed from the mayor’s “real disappointment with the lack of focus last fall on this issue and the sense that the NRA had the field to itself.”

On December 14, 21 weeks after the Aurora shooting, Adam Lanza opened fire on an elementary school in Newtown, Conn., killing 26 children and teachers. This time, Mr. Bloomberg was ready.

Three days later, he appeared at City Hall, flanked by more than 30 people who had been touched by gun violence, to unveil the “Demand a Plan” initiative his aides had been working on since Aurora. It included three “common sense public safety measures” he called on Congress to enact: requiring criminal background checks for all gun buyers, banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, and making gun trafficking a federal crime. Work on the "Demand a Plan" website had begun within 72 hours of the Aurora shootings.

Along with pushing the conversation on gun control—on the cover of Time magazine, and in numerous other media outlets—the mayor’s initiatives also shaped the White House’s own response. Mayor Bloomberg and his “gun team,” which has been working “seven days a week” since the killings in Connecticut, according to Mr. Feinblatt, have made multiple trips to Washington to speak with lawmakers and provide both polling and logistical data on the feasibility of various gun control policies.

In January, the president sent a plan to Congress that included all three of the key elements from Mr. Bloomberg’s plan.

With Mayors Against Illegal Guns functioning as the propaganda arm of Mr. Bloomberg’s anti-gun movement, its military arm is Independence USA PAC, a political action committee that the mayor created in October and tapped Mr. Wolfson to lead. The so-called super PAC is dedicated to electing politicians who support his gun control proposals—and defeating those who don’t.

Using approximately $10 million of the mayor’s money, the PAC saw three of the six candidates it backed in November House races go on to win; the impact of the mayor’s money on those races was hard to gauge, however, given the relatively small amount of time between the PAC’s October launch and election day. Even with a mixed record of success, Mr. Bloomberg’s election spending put Washington on notice, adding muscle to his other anti-gun violence efforts.

“Putting the PAC together with his, what I’ll [call] purchasing power, it absolutely keeps him on everyone’s radar, you know, no different than a Sheldon Adelson,” Staten Island Congressman Michael Grimm told us during a December conversation about Mr. Bloomberg’s stature in Washington. “This is a guy that by virtue—just by the virtue of his financial means, is a player whether you like it or not. I mean he is because he has the clout to be that.”

Last month, the PAC notched its first unequivocal victory when Democrat Robin Kelly defeated former Congresswoman Debbie Halvorson in a special primary election to replace Illinois Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr., who resigned in late November before pleading guilty to federal campaign finance fraud charges.

Ms. Kelly was supported by approximately $2.5 million in ads paid for by Independence USA that, according to Mr. Wolfson, “helped make the race a referendum on guns.” The New York Times, MSNBC and others all called the race a “win for Bloomberg.”

“We elected somebody who’s going to be a real champion on this issue. There’s going to be a vote in this House. She will be a reliable—not just a reliable vote, but a champion for the president’s proposals, and that’s really important,” said Mr. Wolfson of Ms. Kelly’s victory.

In many ways, the anti-gun violence strategy hatched by the mayor and his advisers after Aurora was uniquely Bloombergian. Both of his gun control initiatives are extraordinarily well-financed and, as a result, are backed by top political consultants. Demand a Plan—which was redubbed Demand Action this month after the president revealed his Bloomberg-friendly gun control plan—is also driven by data, with all of its legislative recommendations backed by extensive polling and research.

Whether or not Congress passes the president’s gun control plan, Mr. Wolfson described the mayor as “in this for the long haul.”

Mr. Bloomberg is currently headed into the home stretch of his 12 years in City Hall. Though he and his close aides have remained tight-lipped about his future, it seems clear he will be substantially engaged in advocacy on the issues closest to his heart, which, in addition to gun control, include immigration reform, gay rights, climate change and education reform. Mr. Bloomberg won’t say where or how he will strike next, but his gun control initiative provides a blueprint for the type of effective, expensive approach he could bring to this post-mayoral political activity.

“Look, the mayor has an enormous platform and will continue to have influence on the issues he cares about,” Mr. Wolfson said of the mayor’s future plans. “He spent roughly 10 million dollars last November. He described that as sticking his toe in the water.”

hwalker@observer.com

Mayor Michael Bloomberg. (Photo: Getty)

Mayor Michael Bloomberg made a splash by endorsing President Barack Obama this afternoon, however the billionaire's backing won't come with any campaign cash from the mayor's new super PAC. Sources familiar with Mayor Bloomberg's plans told Politicker "his PAC is not going to be contributing to the president's campaign."

Mayor Bloomberg created his super PAC, Independence USA, last month. At the time of its launch, the PAC pledged to spend $10 million to $15 million during this year's election cycle on "candidates from both parties who pledge to work in a bipartisan fashion."

So far, Mayor Bloomberg's PAC has spent at least $1.4 million that has gone to both Democrats and Republicans. As of this writing, Howard Wolfson, a deputy mayor who took a leave from City Hall to head the PAC on the mayor's behalf, has not responded to a request for comment on this story.

A gas station sign displaying the reduced-price $1.84 gallon gas at the AFP event in Ohio earlier this month. (Photo: Facebook)

Americans for Prosperity, the activist group founded by the billionaire Koch Brothers, is taking its "Obama's Failing Agenda" bus tour to New Jersey this week where it will help purchase gas for motorists at the Holland Tunnel to "draw attention to President Obama’s failing energy policies." On Thursday, AFP will set up shop at an Exxon Station near the entrance to the tunnel where it will be reducing gas prices to $1.84 a gallon, which a press release for the event said is "the cost of gas four years ago right around the time President Obama took office."

"Our event will help New Jerseyans get around this week and remind them of the need for sound energy policies that create jobs and lower our energy prices,” AFP New Jersey Director Steve Lonegan said in a press release announcing the promotion. “We will educate Americans on the most harmful aspects of President Obama’s big-government agenda, and help put grassroots pressure on politicians to turn away from these destructive policies."

AFP previously staged a reduced-price gas event in Michigan earlier this month that reportedly led to a nearly "half mile" long line at the station. The group paid the station owner to make up for the reduced price gas. AFP has also held its gas event in Ohio and Illinois.

This week's event will take place starting at 7 a.m. at the Exxon at 726 Jersey Avenue and 11^th Street in Jersey City. The cheap gas will be limited to the first 150 vehicles and 15 gallons per car.

Update (3:56 p.m.): This story originally described Americans For Prosperity as a super PAC. They are a 501(c)(4) group. 

Former Navy SEAL Scott Taylor in the new Special Ops OPSEC ad. (Photo: YouTube)

Special Ops OPSEC, one of the anti-Obama political action committees formed by ex-Navy SEALs that have been attacking President Barack Obama for inappropriately politicizing the killing of Osama bin Laden has released a new ad slamming the White House's response to the attacks on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya last month. The Obama administration has faced harsh criticism for allegedly ignoring security warnings ahead of the attacks and offering confusing, evolving explanations for the incident, which left four people dead including U.S. Ambassador to Libya J. Christopher Stevens and two former Navy SEALs who were working as security contractors protecting diplomatic personnel. The ad specifically targets comments the president made referring to the Benghazi attack and other recent unrest in the Middle East as "bumps in the road."

"President Obama wanted credit after our military killed Bin Laden. Highly classified secrets were leaked endangering real heroes and their families, but when terrorists kill SEALs and diplomats in Libya, this administration doesn't tell the truth about what happened and the president says it's just a bump in the road," OPSEC president and former SEAL Scott Taylor says in the ad. "There is nothing acceptable about playing politics with national security and American lives. Aren't some things more important than politics?"

According to an email sent out by Special Ops OPSEC, the ad will start airing in Virginia today. The group is seeking contributions to help put it on the air in other swing states.

"We need your help to keep it on the air expand it to other critical 2012 battleground states," Mr. Taylor wrote in the email message.

Watch the Special Ops OPSEC ad, which is entitled "Bump in the Road," below.

Gary Bauer (Photo: Getty)

CHARLOTTE, NC -- Evangelist leader Gary Bauer told Politicker his pro-Romney super PAC, Campaign for American Values, won't just be running one ad attacking President Barack Obama for supporting same sex marriage. Mr. Bauer says the "New Morning" ad is only running in North Carolina during the Democratic National Convention, but that commercial just the beginning of a larger campaign aimed at using the President's position on gay marriage to drive votes to Mitt Romney in several crucial swing states.

"We plan on running that ad and others like it in a number of swing states," said Mr. Bauer. 

Mr. Bauer, who is the chairman of Campaign for American Values, kept coy when we asked what states will get the ads, which warn that "Obama is trying to force gay marriage on this country.” However, he said he was confident the commercials will hit a nerve in states where the election remains close.

"There are plenty of states that have voted overwhelmingly to keep marriage as the normal definition of the word and, yet, in those same states, either it's tied in the presidential race or, in some cases, Obama has a couple point lead. So, it just makes sense to me to remind voters that this is a huge issue and they should take it into consideration in determining how to vote," Mr. Bauer explained.

Mr. Bauer said he believes the ad will appeal to "swing voters" and minorities.

"I think there are plenty of swing voters and even members of the normal Democratic coalition; black Americans, Hispanic Americans and so forth who don't want marriage redefined. So, I think the ad is an appropriate ad and one that I think could actually move significant numbers of votes," Mr. Bauer said.

Mr. Bauer believes minorities, specifically African-Americans are inclined to oppose gay marriage.

"Particularly black Americans many of them, from quotes that I have seen and conversations I've had, are sort of insulted that the civil rights movement is being hijacked--the rhetoric of the civil rights movement is being hijacked for something like same sex marriage," said Mr. Bauer, adding, "Black Americans tend to have a higher degree of religiosity."

Despite the fact Mr. Bauer thinks his ads will appeal to religious voters, he said his argument opposing same sex marriage isn't based on the Bible.

"I don't make a Bible argument in the ad, nor have I made a bible argument in the public space. My argument is simple, which is, that for several thousand years in Western civilization, marriage has been the union of one man and one woman. Research is overwhelming that children need mothers and fathers," Mr. Bauer said. "If one is going to change the definition of marriage to be, quote, 'same sex,' then there is absolutely no valid argument constitutionally or rhetorically you can make against multiple people getting married. These are radical social changes."

Though Mr. Bauer believes his ad campaign will help Mr. Romney win, he said he hasn't discussed the commercials with the Republican candidate because of the Federal Election Commission regulations that prohibit super PACs from coordinating with the campaigns they support.

"Under the law super PACs, or even regular PACs doing independent expenditures can't coordinate in any way with the campaign, so I've not mentioned to anybody in the Romney campaign that I planned to do the ad and obviously did not talk to anybody about the content of such an ad," Mr. Bauer said.

Mr. Bauer initially supported Rick Santorum in this year's presidential race, but he said he believes conservatives should line up behind the Republican nominee, Mr. Romney, now that the primaries are over.

"I made it clear from the very beginning of the Republican primaries that I thought conservatives could support a lot of different contenders, but at the end of the day, whoever got the nomination, except perhaps for one or two people, really it would be imperative to back them," said Mr. Bauer. "I don't see how any conservative can sit this out or, at this point, be ambivalent about what the right thing to do is."

A still from the "New Morning" ad. (Photo: YouTube)

GASTONIA, NC -- A super PAC with ties to evangelist leader Gary Bauer is trying frighten would-be Obama supporters in at least one Southern swing state by raising the specter of the President's support for gay marriage. The "Campaign for American Values" has launched a pro-Mitt Romney television campaign with an ad warning viewers that "Obama trying to force gay marriage on this country."

In the commercial, which is entitled "New Morning," a couple wakes up to coffee and the threat of legalized same sex marriage as they peruse the morning paper.

"Obama is trying to force gay marriage on this country. That's not the change I voted for. Marriage is between a man and a woman. That's not the change I voted for," one of them says,

"That's not the change I voted for either," the other agrees.

The ad closes with a narrator advising the couple to ward off this potential onslaught of married gay couples by voting "for someone with values" as the words "VOTE ROMNEY/RYAN" appear on the screen. 

Campaign for American Values was founded in 2010. It is a super PAC and can accept unlimited contributions. According to the latest documents on file with the Federal Election Commission, the group currently has $762,291.53 on hand. The group has several ties to evangelical leader Gary Bauer. Campaign for American Values' treasurer is Dorie Black, who is also a staffer at Mr. Bauer's non-profit. The super PAC's website is registered to an address shared by Mr. Bauer's political action committee, the campaign for working families. Mr. Bauer also posted the ad on his YouTube page.

Mr. Romney has said he is against same sex marriage and President Obama expressed support for it back in May, but their disagreement on the issue hasn't been a central element of the presidential race. Though social issues can rally conservatives, President Obama has had success raising donations from his support for gay marriage. An ad campaign such as this could cause the issue to emerge as the latest hot topic in the campaign trail's infamously hyperactive news cycle..

Politicker saw the "New Morning" ad while attending the Democratic National Convention in North Carolina, a crucial swing state that is perfectly primed for a gay marriage battle. We reached out to Ms. Black and Mr. Bauer to find out more about the super PAC and if the ad is running anywhere else, but, as of this writing, we have yet to receive a response. Campaign for American Values spent $28,150 on an ad in support of Mr. Romney late last month, the same day the "New Morning" commercial appeared online.

Opponents of President Obama may see encouraging signs they can gain votes in North Carolina by emphasizing President's support for gay marriage. In 2008, President Obama won the Tarheel State by a slim 28,000 vote margin, becoming the first Democrat to win North Carolina since 1976. However, back in May, the day before President Obama decided to express his support for gay marriage, 61 percent of North Carolina voters backed an amendment to their state constitution banning gay marriage and civil unions. Since then, Mr. Romney has managed to claw out a thin lead in the North Carolina polls.

Mr. Bauer, is a former aide to President Ronald Reagan who ran for president in 2000. He initially backed Rick Santorum rather than Mr. Romney in this year's race.

Update (7:16 p.m.): Mr. Bauer, who is indeed the chairman of the Campaign for American Values, discussed the commercial and his plans for more similar ads with Politicker. 

Watch the anti-Obama super PAC's anti-gay marriage ad below.

Mitt Romney on stage at the RNC. (Photo: Getty)

TAMPA, FL -- It's fitting that one of the most enduring images of the 2012 Republican National Convention was Clint Eastwood's empty chair, since the main purpose of the confab was crowning Mitt Romney as the titular leader of the party, finally filling the seat of GOP power that has remained more or less vacant since John McCain was vanquished by President Barack Obama four years ago.

As the saying goes, when you play the game of thrones, you either win or you die. After his defeat in 2008, Mr. McCain didn’t even bother joining the primary combatants vying to lead the elephant herd into battle against President Obama in this year's race. His second, Sarah Palin, didn't have a place in the primaries or at the convention in Tampa. Instead, she was banished to her Facebook page, where she railed against her overlords at Fox News for canceling all of her scheduled appearances, in which she’d hoped to take to the airwaves in praise of Mr. McCain on the night of his RNC cameo.

Like any coronation, last week’s convention was supposed to be a time for Mr. Romney's fellow Republicans to rally around him and march into combat by his side. However, the ascent of the House of Romney was accomplished without the blessing of the conservative and libertarian factions of the party. As a result, Tampa became a theater for the sorts of behind-the-scenes drama, intrigue and power plays that so often accompany these matters of dynastic succession. Though ostensibly acting as standard bearers for Mr. Romney, the other lords of the GOP seemed to be more interested in plotting their own ascendancies four years from now than in following Mitt into battle against President Obama.

Mr. Romney’s erstwhile primary rival, Rick Santorum, took the stage Tuesday night to deliver a speech that movingly detailed his own family history while pausing to mention the nominee by name just three times. The following night, when Mr. Romney’s running mate, Paul Ryan, addressed the convention, Mr. Santorum didn’t even show up. Rather, he could be found in the CNN Grill, a makeshift restaurant set up by the cable news network outside the RNC proceedings, where he dined with his family and top aides.

And then there was New Jersey Governor Chris Christie’s keynote address. Mr. Christie reportedly declined an offer to serve as Mr. Romney’s running mate because fundraising rules would have forced him to relinquish his governorship in order to maximize potential presidential campaign contributions—and because he doubted Mr. Romney’s chances in November.

On Wednesday, Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, son of Texas Congressman Ron Paul, another former rival of Mr. Romney’s, offered some remarks before the RNC attendees in which he invoked Mr. Romney’s name just once. The inclusion of the younger Mr. Paul, and a tribute video hailing his father, were reportedly efforts to placate their fervent supporters, the Paulites. No such luck. Despite these displays of graciousness, the Paulites repeatedly disrupted Mr. Romney’s coronation by staging dramatic walkouts and regularly shouting for both Paul the father and Paul the son during the festivities.

On the final night of the convention, Florida Senator Marco Rubio introduced Mr. Romney. He dutifully named the candidate six times, however, Mr. Rubio’s rousing speech left many observers wondering why he’d been passed over for the veep spot and where he'll be four years from now. (Several commentators compared his prime-time address to Mr. Obama’s star turn during the 2004 DNC.) Mr. Rubio possesses three things Mr. Romney lacks: relative youth, a gift for public speaking and the admiration of the Republicans’ Tea Party faction. This trio of political advantages may have made it impossible for Mr. Rubio not to upstage the man he was meant to introduce and, indeed, from the convention floor it seemed his speech engendered a far more electric response from the crowd than Mr. Romney’s.

Even Mr. Ryan, the most important member of Mr. Romney’s court, didn’t focus his convention address entirely on the campaign message. Mr. Romney has disavowed the budget proposal that had become Mr. Ryan’s signature in Washington and was initially adopted by his fellow Republican lawmakers, but there was the vice presidential candidate on stage casting a discordant note by touting the “good-faith reforms and solutions equal to the problems” that he and the congressional Republicans proposed for the budget.

What the speeches largely had in common was that they promised an election victory and a subsequent renaissance for the American kingdom following the dark ages of the financial crisis. These optimistic orations were offered within a fortress of metal gates and concrete barriers guarded by a massive contingent of police officers, Secret Service agents and National Guardsmen. Utah Senator Orrin Hatch, who has served in the halls of government since 1977, told The Observer the security surrounding the convention “event zone” was unprecedented.

“I’ve been to ten of these, I’ve never had as much trouble getting around as I have here,” the old lawmaker said. “It’s a different world right now. Terrorism and all these other things are scaring everybody to death.”

Indeed, outside the fortified ramparts of the convention, many of the forces threatening the Republican Party were amassed—shouting, chanting and otherwise calling for Mr. Romney’s head on a pike. The delegates and other RNC attendees run a gauntlet of these fearsome creatures, including disgruntled Paulites, Occupiers and religious zealots. One group we saw was led by a fiery preacher named Ruben Israel, who brandished a pair of the sacred temple garments worn by members of the Mormon Church.

“This is the holy underwear that Mitt Romney wears,” Mr. Israel shouted through his megaphone. “You going to vote for a guy that puts this stuff on? You going to think that God is going to honor this?”

Though small groups of demonstrators managed to infiltrate the Forum and briefly interrupt the speeches made by both Mr. Romney and Mr. Ryan, they failed to halt the proceedings. However, they were a troubling indicator that, whomever wins the election in November, winter may be coming for the Republican Party as internal discord on the right wing mounts. Could it be that some of those who are supposed to rallying behind the nominee believe they could do a better job fending off the impending threats to the party than the current candidate? Whether due to such calculations or to cold ambition, there was a palpable sense in Tampa that many of the high-profile leaders assembled for the convention were more concerned with their positioning for 2016 than they were with Mr. Romney's race.

In spite of this potentially toxic cloud of competing interests and aspirations swirling around Mr. Romney's coronation, the ceremony was not without its revelries and feasting. On the convention floor, the attendees seemed unaware of any discord and cheered each time a speaker uttered the party's newly-minted credo, “We Built That!” After each day's convention activities concluded, hordes of delegates, elected officials and their chroniclers, the political press corps, mingled and imbibed at a series of invite-only parties scattered across Tampa.

Along with these fetes for the standard convention crowd, there was also a parallel convention of sorts for the elite megarich donors who have been fueling those conservative super PACs, complete with private parties, concerts and an exclusive event on board a yacht during which backers schmoozed with Mr. Romney’s close relatives. One set of events aimed at women took place in a pavilion temporarily named for Dr. Miriam Adelson, the wife of Las Vegas casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, who has pledged to give over $70 million to Republican groups in this election cycle.

In this election, President Obama has raised about eighty percent more in traditional campaign contributions for his war chest than Mr. Romney has. This cash imbalance means the Republicans’ dream of seeing their party’s rulers retake the White House is entirely reliant  on the largesse of extremely wealthy individual super PAC donors. With the GOP’s presidential prospects dependent on these moneyed moguls, those who took the stage at the convention itself could be seen as merely pawns with the real kings of the party operating behind the scenes.

On the floor on Thursday, the final night of the convention, we spoke with one of the most controversial conservative kingmakers, David Koch, who along with his brother, Charles, owns what is reportedly America’s second largest privately held company and has pumped an estimated $400 million into this election. Mr. Koch, who was attending as a member of the New York State delegation, dismissed criticism of the influence he and his fellow megadonors have begun to exercise on the nation’s political process.

“We have a free society and people are free to do what they want, you know, as long as they don’t hurt others and they obey the law,” Mr. Koch said. “So, I believe in free speech and if people want to spend money in politics or something else, it’s their right, nothing wrong with that. So, I endorse that.”

Not long after, Mr. Romney made his way to the stage to deliver a speech that would be the convention’s grand finale. As he waded through the crowd shaking hands, the candidate paused briefly by the New York delegation, clasped Mr. Koch’s hand, grabbed his shoulder and exchanged a few pleasantries.

It’s good to be the king. The question was just which man held the title.

David Koch (Photo: Getty)

TAMPA, FL -- Billionaire Republican megadonor David Koch, who, along with his brother, Charles, is pumping an estimated $400 million into this presidential campaign, talked to Politicker about the controversial level of influence major contributors have on American elections in an interview on the floor of the Republican National Convention a few moments ago.

"We have a free society and people are free to do what they want, you know, as long as they don't hurt others and they obey the law," Mr. Koch said. "So, I believe in free speech and if people want to spend money in politics or something else, it's their right, nothing wrong with that. So, I endorse that."

Mr. Koch is a member of the New York delegation at the RNC. Our last efforts to interview him were not exactly successful. Since he seemed much more talkative this evening, we also asked Mr. Koch what he thought of the excerpts of Mitt Romney's upcoming convention speech that have been distributed by the Romney campaign. Mr. Koch told us he hadn't seen the excerpts, so we showed them to him on our iPhone. After skimming through the text of the speech, Mr. Koch gave us his take on Mr. Romney's remarks.

"I'm sure that his speech will be very warm, very inclusive and very positive," said Mr. Koch. "I think his speech will be very inclusive, very positive and very uplifting. I'm sure that's the way it will be."

Hall & Oates

TAMPA, FL -- Last week, the Federal Election Commission officially recognized a Super PAC named after the 70's and 80's musical duo Hall & Oates, but the group apparently didn't have the blessing of its namesake. Jonathan Wolfson, the manager of Daryl Hall and John Oates, sent the Politicker a statement this evening announcing that “Hall and Oates Fans For America” was dissolved because Mr. Hall and Mr. Oates had "concerns" about being associated with political fundraising.

"Representatives of Daryl Hall and John Oates have been in contact with the founders of the Hall and Oates Fans For America Super PAC and are pleased to report that the group’s concerns regarding the unauthorized use of their names for fundraising purposes by the Super PAC have been amicably resolved and that the Super PAC is being dissolved by the founders," Mr. Wolfson said.

Mr. Wolfson also noted that "the spokesperson for the founders advised that no funds have been raised by the PAC." "Hall and Oates Fans For America” was formed by a group of friends in Atlanta who said they made the group to create and promote parody videos. William Hansmann, one of the super PAC's founders, told us the group has no political agenda. In fact, according to Mr. Hansmann, he and his cohorts decided to name their group after Hall & Oates because it's "as bipartisan a name that any American could support as there could be."

Though "Hall and Oates Fans For America" claimed no political affiliation, Mr. Hall and Mr. Oates were apparently uneasy about having their names tied to any potential fundraising.

"Daryl Hall and John Oates recognize that the personal view points of their fans cross all political spectrums and are honored to be supported by their fans everywhere regardless of political affiliation," Mr. Wolfson said. "The PAC’s founders recognize that the use of the 'Hall' and 'Oates' names for the purpose of raising funds is not an appropriate fan activity no matter what the goal of the fund raising activities might be."

"Hall and Oates Fans For America" may be gone, however Mr. Wolfson assured us there were no hurt feelings.

"Daryl Hall and John Oates are pleased that the amicable dialog with the founders of the Super Pac have brought an expedient resolution to this matter and achieved a result both sides are pleased with," he said.

Friendz of Mindy Meyer (Photo: Facebook)

Mindy Meyer, the brash 22-year-old self-proclaimed "diva" running for State Senate in Brooklyn, told The Politicker she has nothing to do with a "Friendz of Mindy Meyer" "super PAC" that released a campaign web video and created a Facebook page on her behalf.

"That's some scam because we never did that," Ms. Meyer said.

The "Friendz of Mindy Meyer" campaign video features footage of Ms. Meyer culled from the many media appearances she has made since her blinged out, pink official website propelled her to viral stardom last week. The clip also boasts Ms. Meyer's trademark "I'm Senator And I Know It" remix of the electropop duo LMFAO's hit song "Sexy And I know It."

Ms. Meyer said she isn't releasing any ads at the moment because of all the press attention she has received, but we may see a genuine campaign commercial for her sometime soon.

"So far, my life is filled with enough advertising with all the media nationally and internationally, so we didn't actually put out any ads yet," said Ms. Meyer. "We're thinking of doing that closer to the election, because right now, we have extensive press coverage, so we did not make any ads yet."

Watch the "Friendz of Mindy Meyer video below.