Tidligere Minnesota Guvernør Tim Pawlenty annonserte i dag sin «exploratory committee» – det første offisielle steget på veien mot å annonsere et presidentkandidatur. Pawlenty er den første prominente republikaneren som formelt sett tester farvannet.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-B8BKJV6Xyg
Du kan lese en profil av Pawlenty her, og bokanmeldelsen av boka Courage to Stand: An American Story, som kom i midten av januar, finner du her. En gjennomgang av de andre potensielle presidentkandidatene finner du her.
NPRs Ron Elving – den ene halvdelen av det underholdende radioprogrammet ”It’s all politics” – skrev i 2006 en artikkel om fenomenet ”exploratory committees”:
The exploratory committee has been around for decades, and technically it creates a legal shell for a candidate who expects to spend more than $5,000 while contemplating an actual run. Under the rules, exploratory money may be raised without the full disclosure of sources required of true candidates. Only when the candidate drops the exploratory label does the full responsibility of transparency apply.
Candidates use an exploratory committee as not only a transitional phase for their bookkeeping but as an extra claim on media attention. Some of the most skillful handlers like to leak word that their candidate is testing the waters, then leak word that he or she is thinking about forming an exploratory committee. Additional «news» can be made when the same candidate actually forms such a committee and registers with the Federal Election Commission. Yet a fourth round of attention may be generated when the word exploratory gets dropped from the committee filing.
Hvem blir nestemann uti?
PS: Herman Cain og Buddy Roemer annonserte exploratory committees tidligere i vinter.
