Pawlenty 2012: PAC makes strong initial showing, but Hubbard [heart] Gingrich

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Gov. Tim Pawlenty‘s national Freedom First PAC was in operation for only about three months of 2009, but the $1.28 million it raised in that time compares favorably with the totals accrued by better-known GOP 2012 rivals Mitt Romney and Sarah Palin during the entire second half of the year.

Pawlenty tallied $1.28 million in contributions from October through December, or only about $100,000 less than former Alaska Gov. Palin managed to raise in twice as much time, from July through December. During the same six-month period, Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, raised about $1.6 million.

But as Politico points out, the combined $4.3 million haul by Pawlenty, Palin and Romney amounts to only about two-thirds of the $6.4 million collected by Newt Gingrich‘s committee, American Solutions for Winning the Future, during the second half of ’09. Gingrich has a fundraising advantage over the others in that his committee is a 527. So though it can’t contribute directly to federal campaigns, it is also not subject to the $5,000 per person per year limit that applies to political action committees.

One local name of note is among the biggest Gingrich contributors: Hubbard Broadcasting capo Stanley Hubbard gave the former U.S. House speaker’s 527 a whopping $50,000 last year.  We’re still awaiting the list of Pawlenty’s individual donors.