SarahPAC spent $409,000 in the quarter and finished with $919,000 in the bank, said its treasurer, Tim Crawford.Although Gov. Palin didn't raise as much cash as Tim Pawlenty ($550,000) and Mitt Romney (1.45 million) in the first three months of the year, the Politco report explains:
Crawford said the PAC spent $9,500 on donations to candidates and also spent a considerable amount of money on a direct mail fundraising program sent out towards the end of March.
“We had a large chunk of upfront costs [on the direct mail program] that we had not realized any benefits from” by the end of the reporting period, explained Crawford, who said that in the subsequent two weeks the PAC has more than recouped its costs from the mailer.
Unlike Pawlenty and Romney, Palin has done very little to add to her campaign fund. Instead, she has focused on giving paid speeches and working out television deals with Fox News and the Discovery Channel, as well as stumping for candidates she supports.The rest of the field of potential GOP presidential candidates have yet to file their reports. Some don't have to file until the end of June.
- JP
It is encouraging, but SarahPAC could significantly improve strategies for raising funds. In both direct mailing and e-mailing techniques, it does not have the best methods yet.It does not take as much advantage of the personal charisma of Sarah Palin as it could.
ReplyDeleteI find it interesting that Palin has helped raise millions for the pro-life movement, state gop's and individual candidates, and hasn't devoted hardly any effort to raising money for her PAC, unlike Romney and Pawlenty who are constantly raising money to make themselves look good. Plus, Palin didn't try to buy the SRLC straw poll, and she could have done exactly what Romney and Paul did. I think that this says that she is not about building herself up, it's about helping others. I'm sure she could have insisted that some percentage of the money raised for Bachmann, and other gop fundraisers go to SarahPAC.
ReplyDeleteI hope that she does spend some time on filling SarahPAC coffers, it not only helps other candidates, it would also help her set up a real top notch organization.