LOD: Art Pope Exposed?

The New Yorker’s profile of Art Pope last week helped pull back the curtain to reveal more about the 40 million dollar man prodding the right-wing’s recent successes in North Carolina. Rachel Maddow/MSNBC followed with a long segment that put his 2010 electoral victories in a national context for 2012 (jump ahead 7 minutes for the lead-in about NC). The state press has largely responded with embarrassing defensiveness: Well, we already reported all that stuff and besides, he doesn’t “control” state politics. The Institute for Southern Studies has launched ArtPopeExposed.org, peeling back more layers, including a new entry exposing the hypocrisy of Pope’s claim that he’s a self-made man. What a telling fantasy: Pope’s worldview depends on believing that people begin life with equal resources and opportunity. Meanwhile, Politico has a new story that indicates Pope is working with his friends David and Charles Koch on a national strategy to pump $200 million into conservative groups ahead of the 2012 election. The story highlights the fascinating collaboration and recurring strains between the anti-government Koch/Pope operation and the equally ambitious political network led by Republican operatives Karl Rove and Ed Gillespie. The state’s media devoted tons of resources to follow native son John Edwards into national stardom; can it do the anything similar for Art Pope?