Huckabee names 25 to campaign staff

WASHINGTON -- Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee announced Thursday the names of 25 people who will lead his 2016 presidential campaign.

Many have experience with previous presidential campaigns, several have worked in Arkansas politics or government, and a few are family members.

At an event in Hope on Tuesday, Huckabee announced he would again seek the Republican nomination for president in 2016. He immediately headed to Iowa for several days of campaign stops and on Wednesday announced 17 fundraisers across the country in the next month, including stops in five Arkansas cities.

University of Arkansas at Little Rock political science professor Art English said announcing fundraisers and staff members immediately after entering the race demonstrates to potential donors that the campaign is strong.

"Just like you [need to] have early money, I think you have to demonstrate that you have that early organization and that you have to be prepared to run," English said. "If you don't ... you sacrifice or you give in to the potentiality that people are going to see you as a weak candidate."

Huckabee joined half-a-dozen Republicans already in the race, and nearly a dozen more people have talked about entering.

Duke University political science professor David Rohde said that with so many Republicans expected to enter the race, there is likely competition for staff members.

"There must be. Experienced, good people are always in demand, and demand goes up when more potential candidates are in the mix," Rohde said. "I would think that there's probably a lot of competition, just like there is a lot of competition for donors."

Huckabee's 2008 bid has been called a "guerrilla campaign" with fewer staff members and much less money than his competitors.

Rohde said announcing staff members now shows donors that Huckabee intends his 2016 campaign to be different.

"One of the big doubts about him is whether he has the capacity to raise the funds to compete adequately, and this affects potential donors' choices of whether or not to donate to Huckabee or somebody else. The creation of an experienced, well-known, well-connected staff has the potential to affect those evaluations," Rohde said. "Potential donors will look at this and they'll say, 'Well, he's got some really good people to help him, maybe he does have a chance. I'll give him some money,' or alternatively if this weren't the case they'd say 'Well, you know he doesn't have a good history of fundraising and he doesn't have a good cadre, I think I'm going to look someplace else.'"

Several members of Huckabee's political staff announced Thursday are returning from the 2008 campaign, while much of his fundraising staff is new.

Huckabee had already announced that his daughter, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, would manage the campaign, his 2008 campaign manager Chip Saltsman would return as a senior adviser and that longtime spokesman Alice Stewart would be communication's director.

Also returning is Bob Wickers as pollster and media strategist. Wickers served as senior adviser and media consultant to Mitt Romney's primary and general election campaigns for president in 2012 and as strategist, media consultant and pollster for Huckabee's presidential campaign in 2008. He is CEO of consulting firm The Wickers Group.

Several Wickers Group partners will join him, including Sarah Huckabee Sanders' husband, Bryan Sanders, who will be a media consultant, and Huckabee's 2008 media placement manager Carolyn Barber, who will be director of media placement.

Other returning staff members include Chadwick Gallagher, who will be senior leadership director. He has worked in various capacities for Huckabee since 1992 and has run the former governor's leadership PAC since 2012.

J. Hogan Gidley, who was HuckPAC executive director, will be senior communications adviser. Former Huckabee 2008 campaign staff member Jordan Powell returns as deputy campaign manager.

David John, who worked in Huckabee's administration, on his 2008 presidential campaign and as political director for his political action committee, will be Janet Huckabee's chief of staff.

New to the team are Arkansas Lt. Gov. Tim Griffin, a former congressman, who will work as a senior political adviser, and Capitol Hill veteran staff member Jim Terry.

Aaron Chang will be director of advance, and Steele Shippy joins as Huckabee's personal aide. Pratik Chougule, a George W. Bush appointee to the State Department, will be policy coordinator. Jack Sisson, a former staff member for U.S. Sen. John Boozman, will direct research and rapid response.

Huckabee's digital strategist and chief technology officer will be Chris Maiorana. Jim Ferguson, who has designed ads for commercial and political clients for 30 years, joins the staff as media creative director and adviser. Director and filmmaker Miles Hargrove also joins the campaign.

Among the hires announced Thursday are six people focused on raising money and recruiting donors.

Huckabee took in about $16 million before he bowed out of the 2008 race in early March that year. In total, John McCain raised about $220 million for the primary election and Romney raised about $105 million.

Huckabee's 2016 finance team will be led by Alice Tadlock, who has more than a decade of experience in campaign fundraising.

Linus Catignani will be senior digital and finance adviser. Stacy DeJarnette, the former finance director for Gov. Asa Hutchinson's campaign, will be senior finance adviser.

Katy Faulk will manage major donors and bundlers. She was the lead fundraiser for U.S. Reps. Rick Crawford and Bruce Westerman, and Boozman.

Regional finance directors are Cathy Lanier, who was finance director for U.S. Rep. French Hill, and Jenna Recker, who was deputy finance director for Hutchinson's campaign and finance director for his inauguration.

Metro on 05/08/2015

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