Washington – If Iowa pushes its presidential caucuses into December of this year, could candidates tap old money veins all over again? The payoff could be millions of dollars of new, unanticipated cash.
The possibility is sending campaign- finance teams to the law books.
A wrinkle in federal law could open a tempting new money cycle for 2007 that would allow candidates to solicit donors who have already given the maximum. What’s a candidate to do?
“You open the account and start fundraising,” said Joseph Birkenstock, a former chief counsel for the Democratic National Committee. “The people who don’t are going to be really lonely.”
With states such as Florida pushing their nominating contests into January, the leadoff states of Iowa and New Hampshire are increasingly feeling pressure to hold their voting even earlier.
How early is the big question, although Iowa Gov. Chet Culver has indicated a preference for keeping his state’s first-in-the-nation caucuses in January.
The Democratic Party’s Rules and Bylaws Committee this weekend will consider whether Florida should be penalized for moving its primary up to Jan. 29, against the party’s wishes.
But now the Michigan Senate has voted to move the state’s presidential nominating contests to Jan. 15, leapfrogging New Hampshire and crowding Iowa’s caucuses, scheduled for Jan. 14.
New Hampshire Secretary of State William Gardner said that if Michigan succeeds in moving its presidential contests up, then New Hampshire would hold its primary no later than Jan. 8. That would trigger a similar move by Iowa.
This is where campaign finance lawyers come in.
Under federal law, candidates can raise up to $2,300 from donors for primary elections and another $2,300 for the general election.
Because the presidential nominating process requires numerous state primaries and caucuses, federal law states: “All elections held in any calendar year for the office of the president of the United States (except for the general election for such office) shall be considered to be one election.”
In short, a strict reading of the law means the contribution limits apply only to primaries and caucuses held in 2008. If a state moves its primary or caucuses to 2007, it could mean a whole new cycle.
Did Congress envision this when it wrote the law in 1974? Not likely.
“The obvious intent of the Congress in passing that provision was to have one limit to cover all of the primary and caucus elections,” said Fred Wertheimer, president of Democracy 21, a group that advocates limits on money in politics. “You’re going to have a situation where the literal language certainly appears to say one thing and the intent of Congress appears to be something else.”
The final decision could rest with the Federal Election Commission. If Iowa moves its caucuses to December, campaign lawyers are likely to file prompt requests for commission advisory opinions.
“In a situation like that, where time would be important, we have tried to expedite that process if it’s possible,” FEC spokesman Robert Biersack said. “I’m sure we would move as quickly as we could.”
Several campaign lawyers predicted the commission would be reluctant to open a new money stream under a quirk in the law.
Permitting candidates to raise more money would also raise a number of tangential issues: Would candidates seeking matching public money be entitled to more federal funds? What if only one party decided to hold a contest in December? Would the money raised be required to be spent in the December contest only?
Larry Noble, former FEC general counsel, said commissioners could act even without a request for advice from the campaigns.
For now, the decision doesn’t rest with Congress or the FEC, but with Iowa’s governor.
Related
Webcasts to link voters, hopefuls. Social networking website MySpace and MTV will bring together 2008 hopefuls and young voters for real-time online conversations.
The announced front-running candidates of both parties will participate, each holding individual dialogues with voters. Voters can instant-message, e-mail or text questions in real time during the events, which will be webcast live on and .
To be held September through December, the 11 dialogues will each last about one hour and include real-time polling that rates the online audience’s response to the candidates’ answers. During their chats, candidates will typically be located on college campuses.
Former Sen. John Edwards will hold the first dialogue Sept. 27 in New Hampshire.
Proposals to ease ad rules. Unions and corporations would be allowed to pay for ads that mention political candidates in the weeks just before an election under rule options being considered by the Federal Election Commission.
The two proposals, announced Thursday, are in response to a Supreme Court ruling in June and would provide a broad exception to advertising limits in the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law. The FEC has asked interested parties to comment on the options and says it plans to issue a final rule by the end of November.
The ads would still not be able to explicitly call for the election or defeat of a candidate, but they could detail a political candidate’s stand on topical issues.
