Huckabee Running Low On Cash
Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee acknowledged Tuesday that money is tight as some staffers are working without pay and others have left, but he pledged to remain in the race through next week's Florida primary.
Speaking to about 50 people, mostly University of Florida fraternity members, at a rally at the Gainesville airport, the former Arkansas governor said his campaign had cut back and was being frugal. He was in Gainesville to attend a private fundraiser Tuesday night.
"We are taking a look at everything daily," Huckabee said. "But we will be here every day in Florida until next week."
He said he plans a short trip back to Little Rock on Wednesday, but will return to Florida on Wednesday night. A poll released last week showed Huckabee in a tight battle for Florida with former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Arizona Sen. John McCain. The state is key because it is the largest to vote so far and it is the only state voting Jan. 29, giving the winner momentum heading into Super Tuesday the following week, when 24 states will vote.
In an interview earlier Tuesday in Atlanta, adviser Ed Rollins said top advisers are working without pay and some have left.
"Most people are staying on," but a few have departed, Rollins said in an interview. "A number of people, including myself," have agreed to forgo their pay to spend as much as possible on television ads in vital states, Rollins said.
Campaign contributions continue to come in, he said. But he acknowledged that Huckabee is stretched thin as he tries to compete in Florida's primary next Tuesday and many of the two dozen states holding contests Feb. 5.
Huckabee's campaign has stopped arranging charter flights, hotel reservations and other means of helping journalists keep up with his movements. News organizations pay their own expenses, but empty seats on charter planes were costing the campaign money.
"We are running our campaign in a very frugal manner," Huckabee said. "We have operated in the black. If we don't have it, we don't expend it."
Rollins said the campaign plans to run some ads on cable stations in Florida, but it cannot afford broadcast rates. Huckabee is splitting time between Florida, Georgia and Arkansas this week.
One of Huckabee's rivals, Giuliani, has acknowledged that about a dozen of his senior campaign workers were forgoing their January paychecks in hopes of stretching out money.
Huckabee spoke at an anti-abortion rally Tuesday on the grounds of the Georgia Capitol before heading to Gainesville, without the usual press contingent.
Legalized abortion is "a national nightmare that needs to end soon," Huckabee told several hundred people huddled under umbrellas in a chilly drizzle. America's treatment of the unborn, he said, "will define us for the future." The remarks coincided with the 35th anniversary of the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade ruling that a woman has a constitutional right to have an abortion.
Huckabee, an ordained Baptist minister, favors constitutional amendments to outlaw abortion and same-sex marriage. He counts heavily on social conservatives and evangelical Christians, but he finished second to McCain in South Carolina in Saturday.