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The Obamas Are Tired Of the Blackness Question
SMALL INVESTMENT, BIG RETURN
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With 'Few Resources,' Huckabee Happy With 2nd in Iowa Straw Poll
Relishing his second-place finish in the Iowa straw poll on Saturday, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee noted that he managed to snare 18 percent of the vote despite investing much less in the event than his top rivals. "It wasn't just that we surprised people with a second showing, it's that we did it with so few resources," he said. "This really was feeding the 5,000 with two fish and five loaves."
Actually, crumbs might have been more like it, considering how huge the disparity is between the coffers of Huckabee and of the poll's winner, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, who collected 32 percent of the vote.
Huckabee says he spent a little more than $100,000 on the event, while rival campaigns estimate that Romney spent more than $2 million preparing for the straw poll, not including more than $2 million in television ads that he has purchased in Iowa. Nationally, campaign finance filings that the two candidates have made through June 30 show that Romney spent $32 million to Huckabee's $853,000. Romney listed about 180 people on staff during the first half of the year, for a total of $5.5 million in salaries over that time, exactly 10 times as many bodies as Huckabee's 18 staffers, who earned a total of $234,000.
And Romney has lived much larger on the social scene, spending $1.8 million on fundraisers and other events, including $16,000 in tickets at several ballparks around the country. That easily surpasses Huckabee's total events spending of $58,000 for the period.
Of course, if Huckabee's second-place finish in Ames gives him a much-needed boost in fundraising, he may want to celebrate. Perhaps he could even take his staff to a ballgame or two.
-- Alec MacGillis
