Huckabee Puts His Money Where His Mouth Is

Huckabee say's he's supporting candidates for 2010 and indeed he does. The following article from the Politico shows that he's given nearly a third of the money that his PAC has brought in to the candidates which he has endorsed. That of course does leave his PAC with some money to pay its employees and the other bills that come in. The article also points to a potential run in 2012 as the Governor starts working in some of the primary states.

In first-in-the-nation Iowa, where Huckabee won an upset in the 2008 nominating caucuses, Huck PAC sent $2,500 donations to Sen. Chuck Grassley and gubernatorial candidate Bob Vander Plaats, the conservative activist who lost the GOP primary to former Gov. Terry Branstad. Wes Enos, a state Senate candidate and Huckabee’s former Iowa political director, also got $500.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0710/39754_Page2.html#ixzz0vjiBn3FZ

Of course Huckabee has never been a huge fund raiser since people like Mitt Romney and Sarah Palin seem to be able to consistently out raise him money wise. I'm not sure if that's a negative or a positive. While I have no distain for rich folks (unlike the current administration), it is indeed interesting to me that Huckabee brings in most of his cash from "smaller" donors, folks who don't necessarily have a lot to give but give what they can.

Huckabee’s committee took in $258,000 between April and the end of June, according to fundraising information obtained by POLITICO – slightly less than the $273,000 Huck PAC raised in the first three months of 2010.

Huckabee’s financial numbers put him behind several other possible 2012 candidates in the fundraising department: former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s PAC raised $866,000 over the same period. Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney have not released updated fundraising information yet. but are expected to exceed Huckabee's total."

But if Huckabee isn’t leading the field in receipts, he’s still parceling out money at a rapid rate, giving $70,000 in the second quarter to candidates he endorsed. That means 27 percent of Huck PAC’s dollars ended up in the hands of politicians the former governor is supporting.

By comparison, Palin gave $87,500 out to candidates – just over 10 percent of the money she raised. In the first quarter of the year, Romney’s Free and Strong America PAC raised $1.6 million and donated $59,000.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0710/39754.html#ixzz0vjgQ6GQf