Huckabee struggles for money in early states 
 

Mike Huckabee’s 2008 presidential fundraising started slowly even in the states where elections come the quickest.

Huckabee received no sizable contributions from donors in Iowa, where Republican caucuses are less than nine months away, according to his campaign finance report for the first quarter of this year.

Beyond that, the former Arkansas governor raised a combined $2,725 in New Hampshire and South Carolina, sites of the two earliest 2008 primaries.

“I can’t recall anybody certainly who’s making a serious effort, and Huckabee is making a serious effort here, who hasn’t received contributions from the state,” Peverill Squire, a political science professor at the University of Iowa, said Monday.

About half of Huckabee’s $544,157 fundraising total came from Arkansans. Analyses of Huckabee’s fundraising were performed by PoliticalMoneyLine, a campaign finance Web site.

Huckabee earlier this month attributed the meager first-quarter report to a late start to his campaign.

He launched his presidential exploratory committee on Jan. 29. His first campaign trip was to Iowa.