2016 Presidential Candidates Use Pre-Announcement Phase To Push Fundraising Limits

WASHINGTON — The 2016 presidential campaign is already in its beta launch stage, as candidates are beginning to roll themselves out so audiences of party insiders and wealthy donors can test them for bugs. This process also requires a platform to allow access to the candidate during this important, formative stage.

Technically, presidential candidates are required to launch an official presidential exploratory committee, subject to source and contribution limits. But ever since this system was established, people have been finding ways around it. So far, only one candidate, Democratic Sen. Jim Webb (Va.), has created a formal presidential exploratory committee for 2016.

Other “non-candidates” are using different platforms in the form of specialized political committees, allowing these people to raise money and connect with the all-important wealthy donors who could bankroll their future campaigns. These pre-candidates need the money to pay for travel, advertising and even contributions to other congressional and state-level candidates — who are often important party insiders themselves.

A common thread among the candidates pushing the limits of the new fundraising landscape is that they either do not currently hold elected office or, if they do, are elected at the state level. This provides them with more leeway than the potential candidates expected to run while serving in the Senate.

Potential Republican candidates Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and possible Democratic candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) are not allowed to explicitly run or raise unlimited funds for a super PAC, nonprofit or 527. Instead, they have to rely on the leadership PACs that they all already control, and let their allies launch unlimited vehicles. Of course, the rules limiting coordination for these so-called independent groups are still notoriously loose, but they are much looser if you don’t already hold federal office and your candidacy exists in the nebulous “actively exploring the possibility” phase.

Campaign finance reformers have vigorously opposed the PAC-focused pre-announcement phase of the presidential campaign as a way for candidates to circumvent contribution limits by raising money while pretending to not be a candidate. A 2011 report from the Campaign Legal Center questioned the non-candidacy of potential candidates by stating, “If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, you can be reasonably sure it is a duck.”

The Huffington Post