Billionaire donors helped Cruz rise in GOP presidential bid

WASHINGTON -- Four of America's wealthiest businessmen laid the foundation for Ted Cruz's surging Republican presidential campaign and have redefined the role of political donors.

With just over a week until voters get their first say, the 45-year-old Texas senator known as a conservative warrior has been ascendant.

The $36 million committed last year by these donor families is going toward television, radio and online advertisements, along with direct mailings and get-out-the-vote efforts in early primary states.

The donors' super political action committees sponsored rallies Saturday in Iowa featuring Cruz and conservative personality Glenn Beck.

The state holds the leadoff caucuses Feb. 1.

The long-believing benefactors are New York hedge fund billionaire Robert Mercer, Texas natural-gas billionaires Farris and Dan Wilks and private-equity partner Toby Neugebauer.

"No one wants to lose," Neugebauer said when asked why he and others bet big on Cruz. "We didn't miss that an outsider would win. I think we've nailed it."

Voters soon will start determining whether he is right.

The groundwork laid by Neugebauer and other major donors began about two years ago, first in a casual conversation with Cruz at a donor's home in Palm Beach, Florida, and then in a more formal way over the 2014 Labor Day weekend at Neugebauer's ranch in East Texas.

That October, big-data firm Cambridge Analytica -- in which Mercer is an investor -- began working to identify potential Cruz voters and develop messages that would motivate them. Alexander Nix, the company's CEO, said the importance of this early work cannot be overstated. He credits Cruz for understanding this.

"Money never buys you time," Nix said, drawing from his experiences with campaigns worldwide. "Too often clients will come to you just before an election and expect you to work miracles. But you cannot roll back the clock."

Key donors soon came up with a novel arrangement: Each family would control its own super PAC, but the groups would work together as a single entity called Keep the Promise. They keep in touch through weekly strategy phone calls.

That's not how super PACs usually work. More typically, several donors turn over their money and leave the political decisions to professional strategists. For example, Jeb Bush's super PAC counts more than two dozen million-dollar donors.

For Cruz, the pool of really big donors is far more concentrated: Mercer gave $11 million, Neugebauer gave $10 million, and the Wilks brothers and their wives together gave $15 million.