WASHINGTON — A quirk in the way the Federal Election Commission describes political “draft” committees that are established to encourage people to run for office has Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s name listed as a 2012 presidential contender.
Speculation has been rampant about Palin’s intentions since Tuesday, when the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee announced she was setting up her own political action committee. And the way the FEC’s website designates Palin has only fueled the speculation on Alaska-related blogs and political forums.
Although her name is listed in the FEC database as a presidential candidate in 2012, so far, Palin is not.
Here’s what happened: On Nov. 20, David Kelly of Colorado and Paul Streitz of Connecticut filed a statement of organization for the “2012 Draft Sarah Committee,” which was set up to encourage Palin to run for president. Such “draft” committees are often unauthorized, which means they are started without permission from the potential candidates.
When Kelly and Streitz filed their paperwork, in the section that describes the type of committee it is, they had to check off a box saying “this committee supports/opposes only one candidate, and is NOT an authorized committee.” They wrote in “Sarah Palin” as the name of the candidate the committee supports.
At that time, she got automatically entered into the FEC database as a candidate for president in 2012.
Anyone whose name was entered in the form would have been designated as a candidate — even if the person hasn’t declared himself or herself to be one. That’s simply the way the FEC designates the people who are listed on the draft forms.
