The Race for 2012

Politico reports that Gov. Tim Pawlenty will be launching a political action committee soon.

Pawlenty will kick off the fundraising organization with a high-dollar event in Minneapolis on November 4th, according to his advisers.

The $5,000 per-person dinner will be a home-state start to Pawlenty’s potential 2012 run, mostly underwritten by the governor’s fellow Minnesotans.

Might EMILY’s List v. FEC add another benefit for those who aren’t currently holding federal office?  Footnote 7 provides:

In referring to non-profit entities, we mean non-connected non-profit corporations (usually advocacy or ideological or politically oriented non-profits) that engage in election-related activities and register with the Internal Revenue Service under 26 U.S.C. § 527 or § 501(c), as well as unincorporated non-profit groups. “Non-connected” means that the non-profit is not a candidate committee, a party committee, or a committee established by a corporation or labor union. See 11 C.F.R. § 106.6(a). “Nonconnected” for purposes of this opinion also excludes so-called leadership PACs.

“Leadership PAC” is now defined, thanks to the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act, at 11 CFR 100.5(e)(6):

Leadership PAC means a political committee that is directly or indirectly established, financed, maintained or controlled by a candidate for Federal office or an individual holding Federal office but which is not an authorized committee of the candidate or individual and which is not affiliated with an authorized committee of the candidate or individual, except that leadership PAC does not include a political committee of a political party.

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