A helpful reader protested that, pace Michael, the Missouri Club for Growth does not donate solely to Republicans. And he’s right. According to their latest MEC filing, Club for Growth has donated a total of $9,616.41 between four Democratic candidates: Rodney Hubbard ($4,908), Curt Dougherty ($1,871), Tishaura Jones ($1,182), and Michael Favazza ($1,653). Jones and Dougherty are incumbent state representatives fighting off primary challengers, Hubbard is in a tough battle for an open state senate seat, and Michael Favazza is running against semi-incumbent Michele Kratky for a state house seat. (Michele won a special election for her husband’s former seat back in February. She was unopposed.)

The donations are all in-kind; they are mailings purchased from Victory Enterprises, a consulting group in Iowa. They don’t advertise their party leanings, but they were founded by the former Chairman of the Iowa Republican Party.

Our helpful reader can perhaps shed some more light as to why these Democrats were selected, but as far as I can tell, all four of them have taken stances more commonly associated with Republicans on a few high profile issues. I mean, Jones isn’t getting Club for Growth money because she wants to decriminalize marijuana.

Hubbard has voted for repealing campaign contribution limits. Hubbard and Favazza want to give tax credits to parents who pay tuition in private schools, and Dougherty, Jones, and Hubbard all want lower caps on damages in medical malpractice lawsuits.

So yeah, Missouri Club for Growth is not a reflexively Republican outfit. They are an ideologically conservative group that isn’t afraid to primary challenge Republicans or fund Democrats in select instances. It works, too – Arlen Specter veered right after a primary challenger funded by the national Club for Growth nearly knocked him off in 2004.