Jonathan Martin has an update on the Huckabee's campaign strategy moving forward:
They're scaling back any attempt to take Florida. Rollins said going on broadcast TV was unlikely because of the cost. And the candidate will duck out of the state between now and Tuesday to visit other Southern states holding contests on Feb. 5th.
And they'll now get less of that which has gotten them to where they are today -- earned media -- as they can't afford to charter jets for their traveling press corps anymore.
Additionally, like with Giuliani's staff earlier in the year, some of Huckabee's campaign staff has agreed to forgo pay.
This is an intriguing move by the Huckabee camp. All the Republican campaigns, with the exception of Romney the plutocrat, are feeling the budget squeeze. They are having to face more expensive media markets with an increasingly stretched staff.
Spending money on advertising in Florida would essentially be wasting it. To even come close to matching the ad buys of the McCain, Romney, and Giuliani camps, they would have to spend a bulk of their cash on hand leaving them broke heading into Tsunami Tuesday.
Similarly, they are primarily targeting Christian conservatives in Florida. That bloc of voters responds better to personal contact and church appearances than to television advertising. They can now strech their budget even further and save their advertising budget for the Tsunami Tuesday markets.
However, Huckabee is facing the danger of falling victim to what doomed Fred Thompson's campaign: relying on local earned media and grassroots.
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