We reported this week that potential legal pitfalls might reverse the joke on Colbert.  Lawrence M. Noble, a former general counsel for the Federal Election Commission, said, "The real problem comes in the fact that he actually has his own show, talking about his campaign, paid for by a network.  These are the kind of things on slow days you'd debate until the late afternoon at the FEC, but there are serious questions that come up. In theory, he could end up having some campaign finance problems."

The issue at hand is Doritos’ sponsorship of Colbert’s campaign, and of course the involvement of a media outlet, Comedy Central, which hosts the show. 

On Meet the Press last Sunday, Colbert addressed the issue in his customary tongue-in-cheek manner: "It's illegal for my crunch money here to pay for the campaign, but it is legal for it to pay for my show, and the show can report on my campaign.  Host: 'Eat them.' Candidate: 'I just happen to like 'em.' "

But Noble says a line could be crossed if Colbert achieves a ballot placement in the primaries.  "Everybody is very cautious, not wanting to take this too seriously, or to say that campaign finance laws are going to stop satire, or what is clearly a joke.  But he's trying to get on the ballot, and he could in fact affect the election."

Now Comedy Central is addressing the issue, releasing a statement this week: “Based on the law, prior rulings made by the Federal Election Commission and advice of expert outside counsel, Comedy Central is very comfortable that the network, 'The Colbert Report' and Stephen Colbert are operating well within federal campaign election laws.”

In other words, the Colbert Presidential Campaign has only just begun. 

As for the “prior rulings,” the network is referring to a 2003 case involving Washington DC law firm Wiley Rein, which Comedy Central has consulted.  The firm won FEC approval for a mock presidential run conducted in a reality television format on Showtime, a subsidiary of Viacom like Comedy Central.  The series was called American Candidate.

The FEC ruled that the show qualified for the media exemption to campaign finance law. 

Colbert is not quite in the clear to run, but Bob Bauer, a Democratic election lawyer at Perkins Coie, has some stern advice in his blog: “His best bet is to avoid flagrancy.  It appears that Colbert will flirt with violating the law, but since he has hired Wiley Rein, he seems also prepared to keep to the legal side of the line — mostly. If he just walks the line from time to time — as visible as the line can be — regulators will have little appetite for challenging Colbert.”


Related:
The Colbert Presidential Run Might Find Legal Trouble