Huckabee set to raise money for other candidates
Mike Huckabee on Tuesday announced he is establishing a political action committee to back Republicans who share his ideology.
The former GOP presidential candidate launched a fundraising organization called "Huck PAC."
The first beneficiaries will be three key supporters of Huckabee's White House bid. Presumptive GOP presidential nominee John McCain will also benefit from Huck PAC, the former Arkansas governor said.
The biggest beneficiary of Huck PAC may be Huckabee himself. Analysts compared his start-up to a PAC that Ronald Reagan launched following his failed 1976 presidential campaign.
Craig Shirley, a GOP strategist who has written about the former president, said Reagan's PAC was adept at supporting conservative candidates while at the same time defining the future president's credentials ahead of his 1980 run.
"That's the best model, and I think if he was wise, he would use it," Shirley said of Huckabee.
Huckabee launched the PAC on Tuesday, following a week-long "countdown" that displayed only a clock on his Web site. Shortly after the clock reached zero, visitors to
www.mikehuckabee.com were automatically redirected to
www.huckpac.com.
In a post there, Huckabee said he would support congressional campaigns of Rep. John Linder, R-Ga., state Sen. Robert Clegg of New Hampshire and the re-election bid of state Sen. Gilbert Baker, R-Conway.
All three were vocal Huckabee supporters this year.
"They did a lot for my dad's campaign when he was running and he wants to try and help them as best he can in return," said Sarah Huckabee, an advisor to her father.
"They are all three strong Republican candidates that have the same principles and values as my dad and it's important for him to see people like this in office," she said.
Some Republicans were skeptical about whether Huckabee could sustain a PAC, given the fundraising struggles of his presidential campaign.
His $15.9 million at the end of February ranked 11th among the slew of presidential candidates. The top money-raiser, Democrat Barack Obama, was approaching $200 million.
Higher contribution limits may help Huckabee's organization. Individual limits for federal PACs are $5,000 annually, compared to $2,300 per election for donors to individual campaigns.
And Huckabee may be better off raising dollars for a cause than for himself, said Ted Welch, a powerful Republican fundraiser from Nashville.
"It depends on, to some measure if I were the contributor, I would want to know what percentage of that money is going to support candidates rather than to cover overhead for Huckabee," Welch said.
Huckabee can pay himself a salary and can take money for operational expenses from the PAC.
He would do better to streamline his financial operation as well, said Welch, who said Huckabee's presidential campaign "didn't have anybody that knew what they were doing about raising money that I know of."
A GOP strategist from Arkansas said Huckabee may be better at building a movement than he is building up himself.
"In essence, you're fronting a cause," said Bill Vickery, of Little Rock. "I would think that we have seen the beginning of Mike Huckabee's national political career and this is just another step in that beginning."
Huckabee hasn't denied he has future political aspirations.
Shirley said the decision to name the PAC after himself may signal a Huckabee-centered focus that could turn off conservative givers. Reagan's PAC was named Citizens for the Republic.
"Even Reagan said it was always about his ideas, not himself," Shirley said. "Without his ideas, he would have been another out-of-work, aging actor."
A key supporter disagrees that Huckabee's name is a negative.
Just this week, at least 3 million people opened a e-mail sent by Huckabee endorsing the upcoming movie called "Expelled," said Dr. Randy Brinson of Montgomery, Ala.,
The movie is a documentary about academics who have been forced out of jobs after proposing to teach "intelligent design" in schools.
Brinson maintains a list of e-mail addresses of tens of millions of Christian conservatives.
"Just on him being the sender, we were shocked that 3 million people would open the e-mail, basically with a message from him," Brinson said.
Huckabee tapped into Brinson's massive e-mail list during his campaign and the PAC will also have access to it, Brinson said Tuesday.
Brinson is chairman of Redeem the Vote, a nonprofit get-out-the-vote organization that targets young Christians.
Huckabee connects with middle-class values voters who are disenfranchised with the state of the economy and the shape of the GOP currently, Brinson said.
In his campaign, Huckabee broke away from his Republican counterparts on economic issues with advocacy of a national sales tax and elimination of the Internal Revenue Service.
The former Arkansas governor said he would support candidates who mirror his economic message as well as his anti-abortion, anti-gay marriage platform.
"I think Gov. Huckabee is going to be the face to really articulate this message and be the spokesperson for this issue," Brinson said. "He's going to be the lead horse, obviously."
