Election complaint against Fred Thompson

Today Lane Hudson submitted a complaint to the Federal Election Commission against Republican Fred Thompson's "exploratory committee" for the United States presidential election, 2008.

While Federal election laws allow potential candidates to raise money to "test the waters," the law prohibits them "from hoarding the money for use during his actual campaign." In addition, potential candidates cannot run ads that publicize their intention to campaign nor refer to themselves as candidates.

Hudson filed the complaint citing a financial report from July in which Thompson had raised nearly US$3.5 million but had spent just $625,000. In reply to the Associated Press (AP), Thompson spokesman Jim Mills said, "We're following the law."

The AP notes, "Under federal guidelines, the FEC will now give Thompson 15 days to respond to the complaint. Following Thompson's response, election commissioners will decide whether to dismiss the case or investigate further."

In addition to organizational shake-ups, recently Thompson raised just over $3 million dollars, but that fell short of the $5 million committee aim.