Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman promised not to use his considerable wealth to fund his presidential campaign. Shortly thereafter he told the Salt Lake Tribune he donated some cash to his campaign after all — but only to “prime the pump.”
Now his campaign is reporting he raised $4.1 million in the last fundraising quarter, including the unspecified sum Huntsman put in himself. Huntsman won’t be making a formal FEC filing like the rest of the 2012 contenders will, because he entered the campaign so late.
ABC News reports on the details of Hunstman’s cash:
The campaign source also confirmed that a portion of the money was donated by Huntsman himself, though it is less than half of the $4.1 million total.None of the money raised came from Huntsman’s Horizon PAC.
More numbers, from the Washington Post:
After announcing his campaign in New Jersey on June 21, Huntsman held a fundraiser in Manhattan that generated an estimated $1.2 million. Lynn Forester de Rothschild, who backed Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) in 2008 before supporting Republican nominee Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), hosted the event. Also raising money for Huntsman were Morgan Stanley Chairman John Mack and Georgette Mosbacher, a former finance co-chair for the Republican National Committee.
So, how much of Huntsman’s take came from Huntsman himself? Today’s Salt Lake Tribune reports “about half.”
So Huntsman’s campaign is not exactly self-funded at this point, just as Huntsman promised. But it’s also not yet the independent operation he said he hoped to run.
Evan McMorris-Santoro
Evan McMorris-Santoro has covered politics for TPM since 2009. Before that, he was a reporter at National Journal’s Hotline covering election 2008. He started his career covering local politics at newspapers in TN and his native NC.
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