Tim Pawlenty Campaign Still $450,000 in Debt

T-Paw needs some moolah.

Politico reports the former governor of Minnesota, who dropped out of the presidential race after a poor straw poll showing in August, has reported some over $450,000 of debt remaining from his failed bid for the GOP nomination in 2012.

Bills still unpaid include those for office and equipment rentals, and over $60,000 for printing and postage alone. The reasons behind the campaign’s outstanding debt? The list is long, and Politico focuses on things like $11,000 just for one online campaign ad, which, even in all of its blockbuster awesomeness, might be a little over the top.

Put simply, you have to spend money to make it, but if you don’t make it, you’re in trouble.  In an interview with Minnesota public radio, Politico reports Pawlenty hinted that by the Ames straw poll, the campaign had run out of fundraising steam.

“You have to raise a lot of money to be successful, and at that point at Ames, our finances had basically run dry.”

In the last quarter of his campaign from July 1 to Sept. 30, Pawlenty’s organization spent nearly $3 million and only brought in about $1 million. Maybe this explains his failed efforts to get a job at Fox News.

Meanwhile, the next Pawlenty-like debt story may be about candidate Jon Huntsman; the former Utah governor has just $327,000 in his coffers and twice that in debt, according to the New York Times, which today points out that frontrunners Herman Cain, Mitt Romney and Governor Rick Perry are pulling far ahead of their GOP competitors in the fight for financing a 2012 bid.

Cain has probably raised more awareness for his campaign than he has money--at least in comparison to his peers, basically breaking even with a $2.8 million haul, while Romney brought in $14 million and Gov. Perry raised $17 million, according to the Times.