Palin Raises $1.2 Million for her PAC
Politico reports:
Sarah Palin had by far her best three months of fundraising since her star turn as the GOP’s 2008 vice presidential candidate, pulling in more than $1.2 million from July through the end of last month.
That total — which is nearly 50 percent more than her previous high mark, achieved in the second quarter of this year — was disclosed in a report filed Tuesday morning with the Federal Election Commission by SarahPAC, Palin’s leadership political action committee.
Palin, who has encouraged speculation that she may seek the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, wasn’t left with much in the way of political infrastructure after the 2008 campaign and her 2009 resignation as governor of Alaska. But SarahPAC’s brisk fundraising, combined with strategic investments that seek to convert her popularity among conservatives into a massive donor base and a network of allied politicians, all would serve Palin well should she decide to seek the 2012 nomination.
Tuesday’s report shows that a good portion of SarahPAC’s $93,500 in donations went to candidates or groups in states that will play a key role in the 2012 primary. It made $10,000 donations to Kelly Ayotte’s Senate campaign in New Hampshire, site of the first-in-the-nation primaries, and to the state GOP in Iowa, where the presidential caucuses will kick off the primary season — and wherePalin spoke last month to party leaders and activists who will play a determinative role in deciding the caucus results.
Also getting big donations were tea party heroes who Palin helped lift to unlikely Senate primary victories, including Christine O’Donnell of Delaware, Joe Miller of Alaska, Rand Paul of Kentucky and Sharron Angle of Nevada, all of whom received $5,000, except for O’Donnell, whose campaign received $10,000 and Angle, who got $2,500.
Perhaps more significant for Palin’s own operation was SarahPAC’s substantial investment in fundraising, which has helped her build a base of mostly small donors. The report shows SarahPAC spent $205,000 on direct mail solicitations, $38,000 on Internet fundraising and $40,000 on finance consulting.
SarahPAC spent a little more than $1 million in the quarter, finishing with $1.3 million in the bank. It received almost 25,000 contributions, with an average donation of about $50, according to the report. However, Palin’s PAC received only 10 maximum donations of $5,000 in the third quarter, possibly reflecting the unease that many establishment big donors feel about her.
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