No Runny Eggs

After a bad couple of weeks in the “R”PW’s attempt to find somebody not named Lorge to take on Nobody’s Senator (hint; the ‘Rats didn’t let a simple thing called “death” stop them from unseating John Ashcroft), culminating with Rick’s, James’s announcements that they won’t run, the right side of the Cheddarsphere stepped up with not one, but two potential candidates. Aaron and Mary have both announced that they’re willing and able to challenge Nobody’s Senator.

Let’s see what all is involved in running a Senate campaign:

• Circulate a nomination paper for partisan office and return it filled with 2,000-4,000 signatures (wish I could be more specific, but the State Elections Board isn’t any more specific in its online checklist), as well as a statement of candidacy to the State Elections Board no later than 5:00 pm 7/11.
• Read and understand the federal Campaign Guide for Congressional Candidates and Committees and its 2006 supplement
• Once you have either raised or spent $5,000, you become a candidate under federal law and have a whole host of other requirements, all of which must be filed with the Secretary of the Senate in paper form (the electronic filing requirements with the Federal Elections Commission don’t apply to Senate campaigns):
  • First, there’s the public financial disclosure report
  • Next, within 15 days of hitting $5,000 (unlike your taxes, the deadlines are never extended for a weekend or federal holiday), you have to a statement of candidacy (instructions) with the Secretary of the Senate, the FEC, and all the opposing candidates.
  • Within 10 days of that, you have to have your campaign committee organized and have that information filed with the Secretary of the Senate in the form of the statement of organization (instructions), complete with a designated treasurer.
  • Your treasurer has to start filing the report of receipts and disbursements (instructions). If you had any reportable activity before 7/1, your first quarterly report will be due at the Secretary of the Senate’s office by 7/15 (it can be postmarked by that date if sent by registered, certified, Express, Priority, or overnight mail). Your next (or first) report will be the pre-primary one, with the books closed 8/23, mailed no later than 8/28 and received no later than 8/31. After that, it’s the 3rd-quarter report (books closed 9/30, due 10/15), the pre-general report (books closed 10/18, postmarked 10/23 and due 10/26) and the year-end report (books closed 12/31, due 1/31, and see the note below if you didn’t make it to the general election). If you do run in the general election, the post-election version is due 12/7 (books closed 11/27); if not, the post-election version is your year-end report. In any case, until your campaign is officially shut down, it will continue to be required to file quarterly reports.
  • Since Nobody’s Senator is almost certain to trigger the “Millionaire’s Amendment”, you’ll want to take a look at this page from the FEC, which details what happens at what level of Kohl’s personal spending and your expanded fundraising abilities and responsibilities.
• If your campaign hits $25,000 in gross receipts, it has additional filing requirements with the IRS.