Sarah and Mike Huckabee (Danny Johnston/AP)Mike Huckabee has been cagey about whether he'll endorse in the 2012 GOP presidential primary, but in what could be a possible hint about his preference, his daughter is going to work for Tim Pawlenty. Sarah Huckabee Sanders will be a senior political adviser to Pawlenty in Iowa, where she'll lead the campaign's efforts to win the Iowa Straw Poll in August. She held a similar position in her father's 2008 presidential bid.
"It's clear to me that Gov. Pawlenty has what it takes to unite the party, unite the country and beat President Obama," Huckabee Sanders said in a statement.
She's the second key Huckabee adviser to go to work for Pawlenty in recent months. In March, Pawlenty hired Eric Woolson, a Des Moines-based GOP strategist who had been one of Huckabee's key advisers four years ago, to advise his Iowa effort.
Trailing in most early 2012 polls, the former Minnesota governor is investing big in Iowa, in the hopes that a win there could give him the political momentum he needs to win the GOP nomination. He's already running TV and radio ads in the state, and he's set to spend most of the next few weeks campaigning in Iowa.
Pawlenty's decision to hire Huckabee's daughter comes just weeks after the former Arkansas governor publicly advised the GOP hopeful to "get rid" of his campaign advisers after his dismal performance in last month's 2012 GOP debate.
