Palin rakes in $1m for campaigning over past 3 months

LONDON - Newly published election spending figures have shown that the former Republican vice-presidential candidate, Sarah Palin, has raised almost 1 million dollars for political campaigning in the past three months, in a sign she is preparing to run for US President in 2012.

According to The Telegraph, she is also helping to bankroll the campaigns of politicians for the US Congress and other political posts, who may support a Palin campaign for the White House.

Forty-six-year-old Palin previously had only a relatively modest political organisation but has now begun hiring more advisers and spending thousands of dollars on speechwriters.

Official records showed that Palin, who has started to campaign around America after her surprise resignation as Alaska governor, raised 866,000 dollars in the second quarter of 2010.

According to the report, the majority of the money was raised in small donations, a tactic pioneered by Obama during his successful campaign.

Since her unsuccessful attempt to become vice president in 2008, Palin has had a relatively modest political operation, which has been largely based around Facebook and Twitter, the paper said.

Palin, who enjoys the support of the Tea Party and other grassroots activists but is distrusted by the Republican party establishment, has not yet said whether she will stand as a candidate. She and other potential rivals for the Republican nomination would normally begin to make their intentions clear early next year, in the wake of November’s Congressional mid-term elections, the paper added. (ANI)