Evidently MN Governor Tim Pawlenty’s staff will work for food, as they are having trouble being paid, according to published reports today. The Washington Post reports Pawlenty’s top five campaign officials have been working for little or no pay, for several months now. Some have reportedly signed on as volunteers.The Pawlenty campaign denies this is a sign of trouble. According to a story in the National Journal:
“This isn’t ‘we’re broke and we can’t afford to pay you,’” the aide told the Post. “We’re raising exactly what we said we were going to raise. We’re paying our consultants exactly what they expected to be paid right now.”
Campaign spokesman Alex Conant told National Journal that the paychecks -- or lack of them -- for campaign consultants has nothing to do with those of the staff. "Nick Ayers is running a staff-driven campaign, and we are paid appropriately," said Conant, dropping the name of Pawlenty's campaign manager -- a reminder that the campaign managed to snag one of the most sought-after GOP strategists in the country.
Even so, Pawlenty’s inability to pay his staffers the big bucks tends to corroborate the view of him as an underdog candidate. He is up against some fundraising big dogs like former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who raised $21 million in his 2008 presidential run, and fellow Minnesotan Michele Bachmann. The Republican congresswoman, who formally kicks off her campaign Monday in Iowa -- a state Pawlenty also has targeted -- outraised nearly all members of Congress in the past few years and can transfer money from her congressional fundraising committee.
Pawlenty has been struggling to gain traction as the GOP 2012 field starts to solidify, trying gamely to attack frontrunner Mitt Romney on Health Care, while staving off the burgeoning campaign of fellow Minnesotan Rep. Michelle Bachmann.
With the Q2 Fundraising date closing in about a week, it won’t be long before we see the state of affairs of Team T-Paw’s financials. In the meantime, the Governor himself, seems to be earnestly trying to ease the situation……
7 comments:
Doug, good work here. Now I'm feeling sorry for the guy. For me, he's always been missing some key ingredient that's hard to put a finger on. He just doesn't fit. Looks like most people agree.
Next!
-Martha
ROFLMAO!
Oh yeah, love the pics, too. So sad . . .
-Martha
I think TPAW may be blowing all his money in Iowa on tv ads.
He and/or Bachmann are toast depending on who loses their.
With HIS NUMBERS, would you donate to his campaign?
This, "he's an unknown", "wait until people know who he is", is getting a little tired.
I agree, I am starting to feel bad for TPaw, for how hard he's been trying with little to show for it.
MikeZ
So much for being the anti-Romney; Pawlenty can barely even raise enough money to compete with candidates like Bachmann (admittedly strong) and Jon Huntsman (not so much). It's a shame too, I really expected him to compete during this election cycle. It seems to me like his campaign needs a staff shakeup; clearly, something is wrong. It's ok though, there are probably some unemployed Gingrich or Cain staffers out there who would get on board.
http://howtowinthefuture.blogspot.com/
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