Sir, what are your intentions?
If some slick guy with a fast car kept coming around to flirt with a teenage girl but wouldn't bother to come in and introduce himself to the family, that's what Dad would be asking before too long.
American voters and the GOP, however, are still waiting for Fred Thompson, the slick guy with the fast car in the 2008 presidential race, to declare his intentions. And so is the Federal Election Commission.
Thompson appears to be skirting federal campaign finance disclosure laws by conducting fundraising through a Tennessee based 527 group, "Friends of Fred Thompson," thereby avoiding campaign finance regulations that other declared candidates are required by the FEC to follow.
As the New York Times explains:
The $3.46 million raised in the month of June by "Friends of Fred Thompson" sounds like a solid number. But that figure fell short of the $5 million expectation set by the Thompson camp itself.
Somewhat surprisingly, then, the questions about Thompson's fundraising may soon turn to whether that nearly $3.5 million is actually too much -- at least for an unannounced hopeful who has not yet filed candidacy papers with the Federal Election Commission and is raising money using an "exploratory" committee set up under Tennessee rather than federal law.
While the overall receipts were less than the campaign hoped, a seven-figure number is still a serious take, raising this issue: At what point are candidates required to file with the FEC and start meeting the fundraising and reporting requirements established under federal campaign finance laws?
The article delves into the murky waters of campaign finance laws, and attempts to answer the question of "when is a candidate a candidate?". From their analysis, it appears Thompson has given himself plenty of wiggle room, so no one can say for sure if any laws have been broken.
But what does it tell you about Fred Thompson, the candidate? One would have to wonder about all the secrecy, the working around the margins, and the off-the-books financing through a shadow campaign finance organization. One might also wonder, haven't we had enough of that?