Gingrich Non-Campaign Acting Very Campaign-Like
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James Joyner | Thursday, March 22, 2007 |
Newt Gingrich, who definitely is not yet running for president, is nonetheless raising millions of dollars through a 527 front group and putting together an organization of thousands just in case he decides to run, reports The Politico’s Kenneth Vogel.
Gingrich isn’t the first candidate to run a stealth campaign; indeed, as Vogel points out, Mitt Romney did much the same thing. The situation does further illustrate the absurdity of our campaign financing laws, however:
Gingrich’s group, American Solutions for Winning the Future, is a so-called 527 organization, and as such, it would be illegal for Gingrich to use the money to campaign for president.
Still, the group can pay for salaries, Gingrich’s travel, office space, fundraising, direct mail, television and radio ads and the like. In other words, it can fund the foundation for a campaign before there is one.
The distinction between a pre-campaign where one is doing all the things one does in a campaign without calling it “a campaign” is lost on me. Then again, I didn’t go to law school.
About the Author: James Joyner is the publisher of Outside the Beltway and the managing editor of the Atlantic Council. He's a former Army officer, Desert Storm vet, and college professor with a PhD in political science from The University of Alabama. He lives just outside the Beltway in Alexandria, Virginia with his wife and infant daughter.
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