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The corporation that airs Stephen Colbert’s television show is confident that his run for president on the South Carolina ballot will not violate federal election law prohibiting corporate contributions to a federal candidate. I’m pretty much begging for this to end up at the FEC, if only for the sheer entertainment value…

A recent poll suggests this comedic stunt might be doing more than generating buzz on blogs…

In one match-up, Clinton gets 45% to Giuliani’s 35% and Colbert’s 13%.

Rasmussen notes that Colbert gets 28% of 18-29 year olds in this match-up, more than Giuliani does! Same in the race with Thompson. It thus appears that young Republicans are abandoning their party for Colbert. Is this a reflection on the fact that they do not want to vote for the Republican after 8 years of Bush, but are weary of voting for a Democrat, so they jump on whoever runs as a three-way candidate?

Colbert’s character lampoons conservative talk show hosts. Interesting to see how and from where he draws!

Slate has this piece on the potential election law hurdles facing one Stephen Colbert.

This isn’t really directly relevant to nonprofits per se, but most readers of this blog know I’ll delve into campaign finance and election laws from time to time since these laws can impact nonprofits.

Ok, that was a prime example of a sentence that rocks the circular logic. In any event, the Stephen Colbert presdential candidacy (a fake news guy running for real in South Carolina) has created an interesting bit of analysis amongst election law commentators. First was this piece in Politico, and now, a post from Bob Bauer… best line:

All of this, from an election lawyer’s point of view, would be highly entertaining. And perhaps good for more than just a laugh.

All well worth the read… Colbert’s candidacy could force the FEC to confront some pretty big issues. Since Colbert seems intent on running for real, this could be interesting…. But if Colbert thinks he’ll get the coveted Chuck Norris endorsement, he’s sadly missed out.

Nonprofit Law Podcast #19 continues the month-long series on election season and nonprofits with a surface-scratching review of ballot measures. Check out the shownotes and resources at nplawcast.com!

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CQPolitics has the story… it’s a busy day in DC today, as the Attorney General nomination hearings are happening at the same time. More coverage on the FEC hearings in the blog tomorrow…

Two great articles today on the upcoming FEC hearings on how it will handle the WRTL ruling on electioneering communications (Chronicle of Philanthropy || The Hill). You’ll recall that the law limited nonprofits (amongst others) from broadcasting communications featuring the name or liekness of federal candidates near primary or election time. Confronted with a case where ads designed to lobby federal officials who were also running for reelection, the Court held that unless an advertisement can only be seen as an attempt to influence the election, campaign finance laws can’t regulate.

The FEC needs two days to hear from all of the parties on this one… the Court’s opinion leaves open a question on whether these ads still trigger disclosure requirements. I may try to sit in on some of the testimony, but I’ll certainly post about it next week.

University of DC’s College of Law is hosting an election reform conference November 9-11… the speakers will assuredly have a lot to say about nonprofits’ roles in election activity, so it might be worth the time to check out.

Details are at claimdemocracy.com.

As I’m getting set to record my audio guide on the laws impacting nonprofits’ use of new media, I noticed Rick Hasen’s pointer to this excellent student note (PDF) on the FEC’s approach to blogging. Worth the read if you want to delve more into the nuts and bolts!

Episode #17 of the Nonprofit Law Podcast continues the month-long series on election season and nonprofits with a look at debates and forums. Check out the shownotes and resources at nplawcast.com!

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Newt Gingrich blamed McCain-Feingold as a major factor in his decision not to run for president… a lot of folks have questioned this as a front, and Politico suggests the legal reasoning was, well… off.