Huckabee cuts senior staff salaries amid fundraising woes

Mike Huckabee’s presidential campaign is slashing salaries for senior campaign staff in the wake of poor polling and difficulty fundraising, sources told Politico on Thursday. 

Campaign officials said the austerity measures will help redirect more funds toward evangelical-heavy Iowa, where Huckabee, a former pastor, won the 2008 Republican caucuses. 

The salary reductions took place over the last few weeks, amid the abrupt departure of communications director Alice Stewart. 

{mosads}Huckabee publicly held that Stewart’s departure was due to campaign fatigue, saying on CNN she was simply “exhausted.” 

But Stewart, who served as the communications director for Rick Santorum’s 2012 presidential run, told Politico she was “far from exhausted” when she left, and sources said the salary cuts played a part in her decision. 

Huckabee only raised $1.2 million in the most recent quarter and has $760,000 cash on hand. He has also failed to qualify for the main stage in primary debates since October. 

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) has crowded out Huckabee in Iowa, winning 45 percent of the evangelical vote in the most recent Des Moines Register/Bloomberg poll, which had him up by 10 points statewide. 

Huckabee, who won the 2008 Iowa caucus, had a positive favorability rating in the poll, with 53 percent of Iowans saying they view the former governor favorably, compared to 38 percent who said not favorably.

But only 3 percent of respondents chose him as their first choice for president.