Did Toby Doeden already step over the line from “exploring” a race for Congress to “campaigning”?

Related to yesterday’s story on Toby Doeden of Aberdeen running polling and announcing that he’s exploring a run for Congress, out of curiosity, I visited the website for the Federal Elections Commission (FEC) to re-check at what threshold that people looking at running for federal office can spend before they actually have to file. And I discovered a distinction that I don’t think I’d read before on the FEC website.  As noted:

Before deciding to campaign for federal office, an individual may want to “test the waters” to explore the feasibility of becoming a candidate. For example, an individual may want to conduct polls or travel around the state or district to see if there is sufficient support for their candidacy.

An individual who merely tests the waters, but not to campaign for office, does not have to register or report to the FEC. This is the case even if the funds raised and spent to test the waters exceed the $5,000 candidate registration threshold.

and..

After exceeding the threshold, the individual must register with the FEC as a candidate, designate and register a principal campaign committee, and begin to file reports. The first report must include all activity that occurred during the testing the waters period.

Read that here.

Now here’s a caveat that I hadn’t noticed in prior years..

Testing the waters vs. campaigning

An individual may carry out a variety of activities to test the waters. Examples of permissible testing the waters activities include conducting polling, traveling and making telephone calls to determine whether the individual should become a candidate.

Campaigning

Certain activities, however, indicate an individual has decided to become a candidate and is no longer testing the waters. In that case, once the individual has raised or spent more than $5,000, the individual must register as a candidate. As mentioned earlier, when an individual decides to run for office, funds that were raised and spent to test the waters apply to the $5,000 threshold.

Campaigning (as opposed to testing the waters) is apparent, for example, when:

• Make or authorize statements that refer to themselves as candidates (“Smith in 2024” or “Smith for Senate”);

• Use general public political advertising to publicize their intention to campaign;

Read that in the same place.

Accompanying the polling that Doeden did was a hit-piece video that his committee produced. And now there is a website that is on the Internet, with examples that seem to skirt the guidance being provided by the Federal Elections Commission..

“Help the Toby for Congress campaign” would certainly seem to be “statements that refer to ones’ self  as a candidate.” Not to mention appear to be general public political advertising that publicizes his intention to campaign.