Stephen Colbert says he will pay his filing fee to run in the South Carolina Democratic presidential primary on November 1. That fee is $2,500. Since that is below $5,000, and he hasn’t spent any other money on his campaign, the FEC still doesn’t consider him to be a presidential candidate. The FEC only requires people to file campaign finance reports, and to follow the restrictions, if they have raised or spent $5,000.

Colbert will not file in the Republican presidential primary, because that fee is $35,000 (it was $25,000 for candidates who filed early).

The deadline for all presidential primary candidates in South Carolina is at noon on November 1. The Democratic Party is not obliged to accept the fee and the state chair reportedly will urge that Colbert’s fee be rejected. UPDATE: Colbert did file, as he had said he would.

According to this story in the Riverside, California Press-Enterprise, wealthy Congressman Darrell Issa of San Diego County has agreed to pay to get an initiative on the California June 2008 ballot. That initiative would provide that each U.S. House district elect its own elector. The initiative already collected 100,000 signatures in August, then had been abandoned for lack of funding. Thanks to Rick Hasen’s ElectionLawBlog for this news. A poll released on October 31 shows that the initiative would lose; see this report.

The Democratic response continues to lack any hint that the Democrats might qualify similiar initiatives in states such as Florida and Ohio. As noted earlier, 17 of the 23 states that have the initiative process are states that voted for George W. Bush in each of the last two presidential elections.

The Rhode Island legislature had adjourned for the year in June. However, on October 30, they came back for a one-day session, to consider whether they wished to override any gubernatorial vetoes. In a surprise move, the legislature also used its one-day session to pass S1152, which moves the presidential primary from March to February. The bill passed both houses, but the vote in the House was 38-25, and some House members are asking the Governor to veto that bill. Thanks to Franco Mattei for this.