On January 23, the Federal Election Commission announced that the new limit for an individual’s contribution to a federal candidate had increased from $2,100, to $2,300. These limits rise automatically with inflation. A contribution can be made twice during an election year, once in the primary season and once in the general election season.
Congressman Tom Tancredo (R-Colorado) set up a Committee last month to explore his chances of seeking the Republican presidential nomination. The treasurer of that committee is Ken C. McAlpin, and his New Hampshire chair is Shelly Uscinski. Both were active in Pat Buchanan’s Reform Party presidential campaign in 2000. However, a spokesperson for the Tancredo committee says Tancredo absolutely will not run for president in 2008 unless he is the Republican nominee.
It had already been known that the U.S. Supreme Court conference of February 16 would be considering 3 different election law cases (the conference is where the Court decides which cases to hear). But now a fourth case has been added to the February 16 conference. It is Initiative & Referendum Institute v Herbert, 06-534. The issue is whether a state that has the initiative process can “fence out” initiatives on one particular narrow topic and require that initiatives on that one subject need a 2/3rds vote to pass (when all other statutory initiatives only need a majority). Utah has such a provision for initiatives dealing with wildlife.
On January 30, HB 63 was introduced in the Pennsylvania House. It would move the primary in 2008 from April to March 4. The bill has 34 co-sponsors.
Oregon HB 2084 would let the Secretary of State set a presidential primary date. The bill was requested by Bill Bradbury, current Secretary of State. Presumably if the bill passed, he would use his new authority to move the presidential primary to a month earlier than May (current law puts the Oregon presidential primary in May).
