Earlier we had a rundown of Americans for Prosperity’s new, hypocritical ads attacking a trio of Colorado State Senators for their support of a [Republican-sponsored!] bill establishing health care exchanges. Slate’s Dave Weigel has two words for why the billionaire Koch brothers’ political arm is going after these Colorado legislators, months out from Election Day: North Carolina.

Weigel recaps AFP’s return on investment in North Carolina in 2012, including the ability to shut Democrats out of the redistricting process and, subsequently, Republican control of both chambers of the state legislature and the governor’s mansion. Ultra-conservatives Speaker Thom Tillis and Governor Pat McCrory have since been able to run the table, ramming through extreme policies like tax breaks for the wealthy and severe cuts to education funding in the state. A report earlier this year from Bridge Project has more details on the Koch-approved agenda that their cronies have made law in return for the millions of dollars AFP and allied groups have poured into electing Republicans in the state.

As Weigel notes, now that AFP has bought Republicans “in fully command’ in North Carolina, the group is setting their sights on Colorado, with the aim of pouring in huge sums of money to achieve a similar sweep. It’s not hard to understand why the Kochs and AFP want to replicate their North Carolina model — they’ve gotten what they paid for and then some with their yes men in the state legislature and Governor’s mansion.