Sarah Palin’s political-action committee, SarahPAC, pulled in $460,000 in the first half of 2013, less than half of what it raised during the same time frame last year.
This is the second straight year that the PAC has seen a decline in its first-half totals; after pulling in $1.7 million in the first half of 2011 — a high-water mark for the organization, which was formed in January 2009 — it pulled in $1.2 million in the first half of 2012.
Meanwhile, the PAC spent just about the amount it raised, almost $500,000, during the same period, on travel, consultants, and other expenses, and only disbursed one donation to a candidate, $5,000 to a Missouri Republican running in a special House election.
In an e-mail to the Associated Press Wednesday, the treasurer, Tim Crawford, said the organization did not fundraise aggressively during the latest reporting period, and that he was “pleased with the results” given that 2013 is “an off year after a presidential election where every donor was bombarded with requests.”
The former Alaskan governor has floated a run for U.S. Senate against Democrat Mark Begich. Recent polling by the liberal-leaning Public Policy Polling shows that Republican-primary voters in Alaska want her as their nominee, but her overall approval rating is 19 percentage points underwater at 39–58.
Begich is considered vulnerable — he has a middling approval rating that has dropped precipitously over the first half of 2013 – but he still leads the possible GOP contenders by varying margins.