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HUCKABEE TURNS TO TELEVANGELIST FOR FUNDRAISING.
UPDATE, 1/25/08: This morning I received an e-mail from Wead, who advised me that his source, "usually reliable, called back to say 'yikes.'" Turns out Copeland pulled in only (only!) $111,000 in cash for Huckabee, with about a million in pledged donations. Wead has also updated his own post.
In his new blog, former Bush family evangelical adviser Doug Wead reveals that last night, Mike Huckabee turned to televangelist and Grassley target Kenneth Copeland for some emergency fundraising, and Copeland delivered.
Huckabee's campaign is floundering, Wead contends, because Huckabee failed to perform the essential leg work of meeting with influential evangelical leaders early in his campaign, even before he announced his candidacy, and, to paraphrase, by refusing to suck up to them. Wead, who described the outreach strategy he developed for both Bushes in detail to me in several interviews last year for God's Profits, contends that Huckabee may have delivered a self-inflicted wound to his campaign by declining overtures from prominent evangelicals. Being snubbed, he suggests of this strange-but-true look inside the evangelical movement, led some of these leaders to sign on to other campaigns.
Wead also points out the fascinating division between Southern Baptists and Pentecostals, and notes that Huckabee's efforts to reach out to Pentecostals and charismatics (which I reported on here and here) helped him with Pentecostal and charismatic voters but hurt him with Southern Baptists in South Carolina. Pentecostals will vote for a Southern Baptist, but not the other way around, so some Southern Baptists apparently don't like Huckabee's claim to be a "Bapti-costal."
Copeland was one of the leaders who did embrace Huckabee, and it appears that he may have more fundraising clout than Chuck Norris:
A few months ago, the Mike Huckabee campaign finally started the work of touching base with evangelical leaders of influence. Among others, they met with Ken Copeland, one of the nation’s top televangelists. Last night the Governor called his friend in the middle of a conference and Copeland, carefully observing all the laws governing non profits, as a private citizen, re-convened a private meeting, turned to his friends and raised a few million dollars for Huckabee. One wonders what would have happened if this had all been done two years ago, if the campaign had reached out to the leaders of influence before anyone was watching? How much money would have poured in on its own after Iowa?
The Huckabee campaign isn't dead yet, says Wead. He can still win the nomination if he can woo the entire evangelical vote. But, Wead concludes, too many of them might have already crossed over to Romney or McCain. Meanwhile, don't any of these Republicans question campaign fundraising for a presidential candidate by someone who is being investigated by a Republican Senator for his own fundraising?
--Sarah Posner
COMMENTS (6)
This is interesting since Ron Paul is on the front page of Kenneth Copeland, Creflo Dollar, Jesse Duplantis, and TBN's myspace pages.
Posted by: Richard | January 24, 2008 9:02 PM
I'm not sure who I'm more shocked at, Huckabee or Copeland.
This does raise an interesting question. I know that conference. It's the KCM Minister's Conference, with about 1,500 charismatic ministers in attendance. From 2004 through 2007, I was one of the ministers attending. The article says it was a private meeting. I don't see how Copeland, Jerry Savelle, Jesse Duplantis, Mac Hammond and Keith Butler could raise that much money in a closed door meeting among themselves. But if Copeland declared the main meeting of 1,500 ministers a private meeting and turned off the TV cameras, I can see it happening easily. They raised 2 million that way last year for a different reason. So, how private was this private meeting of his?
If Copeland didn't violate his 501(c)3 legally, he sure did ethically. For someone who is fighting to keep the separation of church and state, he sure comes across as hating it.
Posted by: Raven | January 25, 2008 2:03 AM
I can't imagine not voting for someone because of their religion. What a sad existence.
Posted by: Adrock | January 25, 2008 9:16 AM
"I can't imagine not voting for someone because of their religion. What a sad existence."
Well, but what can we expect from a gaggle of chauvinistic fundamentalists.
Posted by: Anonymous | January 25, 2008 1:24 PM
Raven,can you contact me, pete@trinityfi.org about last year's "gift". You can remain anon. of course to the public...Thanks--Pete Here's a part of our Internal Rev Code:
Individual Activity by Organization Leaders
The political campaign intervention prohibition is not intended to restrict free expression on political matters by leaders of organizations speaking for themselves, as individuals. Nor are leaders prohibited from speaking about important issues of public policy. However, for their organizations to remain tax exempt under section 501(c)(3), leaders cannot make partisan comments in official organization publications or at official functions of the organization. To avoid potential attribution of their comments outside of organization functions and publications, organization leaders who speak or write in their individual capacity are encouraged to clearly indicate that their comments are personal and not intended to represent the views of the organization.
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