On Upswing, Huckabee Attracts Funds, Backers
12.29.07 -- 6:00 PM
Wealthy Texas financier Gene Phillips had thought about getting behind Republican Mike Huckabee's presidential bid for some time, but it was only after the former Arkansas governor surged in the polls that Phillips decided to open his wallet and his sprawling Dallas estate for a fundraiser.
"When I saw his numbers start to move, that impressed me," Phillips said. "Then his numbers went from single digits to double digits, and I got on the phone to his campaign and offered to help."
For most of the year, as Huckabee remained at the back of the Republican pack, his campaign struggled to raise money. Only a handful of big-dollar bundlers were aboard, and those were mostly from Arkansas. For a time, he had no finance director, relying instead on his daughter-in-law to organize fundraising.
All that changed as Huckabee climbed in the polls, overtaking Mitt Romney in Iowa and running even with Rudolph W. Giuliani nationally. Huckabee has raised $4,755,818 on the Internet since Oct. 1 -- double what he raised from all sources during the first nine months of 2007. He has a large new cast of big-dollar bundlers. And his efforts in Iowa and elsewhere are getting a major boost from independent groups that are able to raise unlimited amounts, often without disclosing the identities of their backers.
With the rush of money have come challenges and potential problems. Huckabee's aides have had little time to research the backgrounds of his new lineup of bundlers and have expressed frustration over the emergence of several outside groups that are now raising and spending money on his behalf.
Only after Huckabee pocketed $330,000 from Phillips's Dallas fundraiser on Dec. 18, for instance, did he learn from a local reporter that Phillips had been subject to $850,000 in fines from the Securities and Exchange Commission and had once faced a federal bribery indictment in a sweeping case alleging organized crime influence on Wall Street. Phillips was acquitted in the criminal case. Huckabee said he welcomed Phillips's support.
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