EDITORIAL: Get a life (Fred Alert!)

EDITORIAL: Get a life (Fred Alert!)

Lane Hudson, an Internet gadfly, filed a complaint with the FEC on Monday, accusing Sen. Thompson of illegally raising more money than he needs to decide whether to run for president.

Federal law allows potential candidates to raise money to travel, conduct polls and pay for other expenses related to "testing the waters" for a political campaign, without any requirement that the prospective candidate file financial reports with the Federal Elections Commission during that exploratory period.

But the law prohibits anyone who is "testing the waters" from hoarding the money thus raised for use during his actual campaign. "We're following the law," Thompson spokesman Jim Mills said in response to the complaint...

The most sensible goal of the campaign finance laws is to allow voters to figure out who's financing these candidates. Huge contributions from teacher unions or mining companies are far better indicators of where a candidate will come down on issues related to those parties than any carefully massaged campaign sound bites.

But to do that, the law has to choose a "start date." And the official announcement of candidacy seems an obvious date to choose...

If Sen. Thompson is as politically savvy as he appears, he will reveal the sources of all the money he has raised to date, whether he is technically required to do so or not.

Under federal guidelines, the FEC will now give Sen. Thompson 15 days to respond to the complaint. At that point, it's highly likely he will be an announced candidate, and this complaint will be dismissed under the "get a life" rule.

As it should be.