Huckabee's help for Miller not 'flashy'

Mike Huckabee’s political organization has been working to elect Joe Miller to Senate in Alaska.

(CNN) - Sarah Palin has been rightly credited with helping propel little-known attorney Joe Miller to a possible Republican primary victory over Lisa Murkowski in the Alaska Senate race, a win that would rank as perhaps the biggest upset of the 2010 cycle so far, if absentee ballot-counting goes in Miller's favor.

While the media focused largely on Palin's support for Miller, Mike Huckabee's political organization was also playing a key role in turning out conservative voters.

The Palin endorsement was guaranteed to draw more attention, given the former governor's influence among Republicans in her home state and Huckabee's relatively late support for Miller. Palin came out for Miller in early June, while Huckabee did so on August 9.

But the former Arkansas governor and Fox News host quickly put his political action committee to work for Miller - another example, his aides say, of Huckabee's underappreciated influence on races around the country.

"Gov. Huckabee not only endorsed Joe through Huck PAC, he made a radio spot that aired frequently as well as robocalls, blogging on his website and Facebook, and sending Twitter messages," said Miller spokesman Randy DeSoto. Huck PAC also did three get-out-the-vote email blasts for Miller before the vote, along with a phone bank.

Huck PAC executive director Hogan Gidley gave credit to Miller, who contributed $2,500 to Huckabee's presidential campaign in 2007, for running an impressive race. But he also said that "much of Gov. Huckabee's work on behalf of candidates flies underneath the D.C. press radar."

"While the robocalls and radio ads we cut for our candidates aren't as flashy to many in the elite media, the campaigns we've helped appreciate them and understand their value," Gidley told CNN.

Huckabee and his team made similar arguments earlier this month after Rep. Nathan Deal dispatched Palin-backed Karen Handel in Georgia's GOP gubernatorial primary with the help of a campaign appearance and some Huck PAC phone banking.

"Check the poll numbers before I went and compare them to the election," Huckabee told RealClearPolitics at the time. "You can draw your own conclusions."

Whether it was Huckabee's efforts that pushed Miller over the top in this race is subject to debate. But Palin's influence on Miller's campaign is not.

Palin's closest advisers in Alaska and in Washington were advising Miller going back to March of this year, according to campaign sources. And while Palin did not make a campaign appearance for Miller, her image was prominently featured in a series of pro-Miller television ads launched by the Tea Party Express.

Along with multiple Facebook and Twitter posts asking supporters to contribute to Miller, Palin's political action committee gave $5,000 to Miller's campaign and Todd Palin made fundraising solicitations in Tea Party Express emails. Palin also recorded a robocall questioning Murkowski's conservative convictions.