Super PAC growth since Citizens United has been boon for GOP Establishment, incumbents have greater access to rich donor money to drown out newcomers-Blumenthal, Huffington Post, 4/19/2012

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Board members of GOP Establishment group American Action Network formed in Feb. 2010 "include Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, and Ed Gillespie."...Following article from 2012:

4/19/12, "Senate Races 2012: Republican Establishment Tries To Tamp Down Tea Party Insurgency," Huffington Post, Paul Blumenthal

"On Tuesday, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels (R) endorsed Lugar and announced they would cut ads to support him. Last week, American Action Network, a
conservative group with ties to the Republican Party in Washington, D.C., [formed in Feb. 2010] launched a campaign of negative ads aginst Mourdock costing $590,000. Major donors, including former fundraisers for President George W. Bush and McCain, are putting money into pro-Lugar super PACs.

Lugar, moreover, isn't the only incumbent or establishment Republican candidate receiving strong support from big donors through super PACs and political nonprofits. This election cycle the GOP establishment has turned to these new unlimited-money vehicles to help tamp down the Tea Party insurgency that many in the top tiers of the party blamed for the Republicans' failure to take control of the Senate in 2010.

Super PACs and political nonprofits, despite arguments that they have expanded the ability of competitors to challenge incumbents, may actually be doing the opposite. The flow of money released by the 2010 Citizens United and SpeechNow.org decisions has encouraged independent GOP establishment-oriented groups and donors to get involved in primary contests that had previously been dominated by the more radical Club for Growth and FreedomWorks.

This has a double benefit: Incumbents and GOP insider choices are receiving financial support, while the party's hands are kept clean, as the national party organs do not have to step in to fight their conservative base.

In Utah, Sen. Orrin Hatch appears to be successfully fighting back a Tea Party challenge with the help of the American Action Network. In Texas, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst has the support of two super PACs, backed with major contributions from the biggest Republican donors, against a challenge from former state Solicitor General Ted Cruz, who is supported by Tea Party-aligned groups including the Club for Growth and FreedomWorks.

The effort is even evident at the presidential level where Mitt Romney has become the presumptive Republican nominee with the help of a super PAC backed by establishment GOP money. Restore our Future spent more attacking Romney's two top competitors Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich, than those two candidates together spent on their entire campaigns through the end of February.

Along with the help of the American Action Network, two super PACs have launched in Indiana to back Lugar. Hoosiers for Jobs, which has already run ads attacking Mourdock, is funded by former Bush bundlers Sam Fox, Roy Pfauch and Frank Islam."...

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11/16/12,  “Republicans Allowed Karl Rove to Mislead Them Again,“ Daily Beast, Matt Latimer   

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2/6/13, "No thank you, Karl Rove," NY Daily News, S.E. Cupp

"The Republican establishment must give way to new leadership."

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