– With half-a-million dollars in their account from their first quarter alone, Ann Wagner’s campaign announced an all-star team of GOP elites that will be working to elect the former Ambassador to Luxembourg to the United States Congress.

At the head of their effort: Former Missouri House Speaker Catherine Hanaway, currently a partner at the Ashcroft-Hanaway Law Firm, who will serve as the campaign’s chair. Hanaway is also serving on presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s legal team.

“Ann knows this election is about who the voters will trust to carry their voices to Washington and vote on the issues that impact their families, neighbors and co-workers,” said Hanaway.

Wagner, running to replace outgoing-Rep. Todd Akin, is challenging Ed Martin for the Republican nomination.

The team: Karen Mohan Day, who led Roy Blunt’s 2010 fundraising, will lead Wagner’s massive fundraising effort; Former executive director of the Missouri Republican Party John Hancock will oversee the campaign’s local operation; Rex Elsass, who worked on Rep. Todd Akin’s campaigns since 2000, will head the campaign’s media operations; Chris Wilson will lead the campaign’s research operation; and Jeff Roe, the power-player behind Axiom Strategies, will serve as the campagn’s General Consultant.

“We are excited to announce this experienced and talented campaign team,” said Hanaway. “This diverse group of local and national campaign leaders will help deliver our message of sending a strong, effective and conservative leader to the U.S. Congress to clean up the mess that has been created over the last decade.”

Ed Martin did not respond to a request for comment, but the list could add fuel to Martin’s anti-establishment case. In a recent radio interview, Martin described the primary as the “classic fight” between the party’s establishment and the Right.