Huckabee Fundraising Picks Up, Trails Rivals

ABC News’ Kevin Chupka Reports: According to numbers released by the Federal Election Committee today, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee raised just over $1 million in the third quarter.

While his numbers have climbed in each fundraising period this year Huckabee has yet to equal the financial support of Republican front runners and has been forced to spend much more cautiously. Huckabee’s total fundraising effort to date this cycle is about $2.2 million. The campaign reports having about $650,000 cash on hand as of October 1st.

Huckabee still has a mountain to climb in order to truly compete with fundraising juggernauts like Romney and Giuliani. Despite his campaign’s financial shortcomings he said earlier this month, ""We aren’t going to report what the so-called ‘first-tier’ candidates have raised, said Mike Huckabee in a statement. But then again, we don’t need to raise as much funds because we are frugal. Our goal is to stay competitive-and we will be." Huckabee has also been looking to hire a national fundraising chair to anchor the money game in hopes of finding the many donors who have yet to contribute. The previous fundraising chair was forced to leave the campaign for personal reasons.