Blondi vesisaavissa

“The question is, at what point do your activities in fact become a candidate’s activities?” said Meredith McGeehee, policy director of the Campaign Legal Center, which advocates tighter campaign finance rules. “This experience will probably cause some folks, us included, to go back and say: ‘Is there something that needs to be updated? Are the rules clear enough? Are these really up to date with modern campaigns?’ ”

Although Mr. Thompson, 64, has already made it clear that he intends to run a “nontraditional, message-driven” operation that is Internet-heavy, he is not expected to announce his candidacy until after Labor Day.

His political committee, Friends of Fred Thompson, in response to questions about his candidate status, said yesterday, “Fred Thompson is continuing to gauge public, political and financial support for a possible presidential campaign.”

As someone who is simply testing the waters, he is expected to abide by certain rules, including a prohibition on advertising.