Democrats know it will be difficult to match the US$900 million of the Koch brothers

US Democrats have acknowledged that it will be difficult, and likely impossible, to match the nearly US$900 million that the conservative billionaire Koch brothers said their political network will spend during the 2016 campaign cycle.

The eye-popping figure emerged on Monday as donors met at a Koch-organised winter retreat near Palm Springs, California. It underscored Charles and David Koch's commitment to push for smaller-government policies via a web of advocacy organisations. "It's a staggering amount of money, and it's probably just the beginning," said Democratic strategist Bill Burton. "The truth is Democrats will never match what Republicans can put into these races."

Republicans in 2016 will seek to win the White House after Democratic President Barack Obama's two terms and try to keep control of the US Congress after winning the Senate last year.

"Democrats say they can't match it, but we saw Barack Obama do pretty well with large donors. I think Hillary Clinton will, too," said David Yepsen, director of the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University.

Obama's successful 2012 re-election campaign cost US$1 billion. The eventual Republican and Democratic presidential nominees will likely raise that much or more in 2016.

Even so, the ability of Koch-backed groups to spend US$889 million raised from several hundred well-heeled donors puts the brothers' influence on par with that of the national political parties themselves. "It's almost as if these folks are creating their own third political party," said former Ohio Governor Ted Strickland, a Democrat. Strickland is now president of the Centre for American Progress Action Fund, a progressive advocacy organisation.