Palin backs Romney with a $5,000 check

FILE: Sept. 24, 2012: The image of Sarah Palin is seen on a T-shirt as Mitt Romney campaigns in Pueblo, Colo.

Newly released campaign-finance reports show Sarah Palin’s political fund donated $5,000 to Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign.

Palin, the former Alaska governor and 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee,  is normally known for her splashy endorsements. But the donation Wednesday from SarahPAC was made without fanfare -- buried amid hundreds of pages of donations disclosed on a Federal Election Commission form made public Friday, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Palin declined to make an endorsement during the presidential primary, choosing instead to continue speculation that she might throw her hat into the ring at any moment. When Romney all but sewed up the Republican nomination, Ms. Palin continued to withhold her endorsement.

After Romney tapped Wisconsin Republican Rep. Paul Ryan to be his running mate, Palin posted a statement on her Facebook praising Ryan and bashing President Obama.

Some people viewed that statement as an endorsement of Romney, though she didn’t use the word “endorse” in the 1,175-word statement, which focused mostly on the president.

Palin’s PAC has collected $4.7 million in the 2012 election cycle, according to its most recent filing with the FEC. But the filings show the PAC  hasn’t made a large number of donations. It donated $80,000 to Republican candidates for Congress this election. That represents about 1.7 percent of the money she has raised.

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