Below are the criteria ProCon.org uses to determine which presidential candidates we include on our website
2008 Election ProCon.org.
To be included on our site, a presidential candidate must:
- Have filed all of the proper paperwork with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) and received an FEC ID number.
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- Have active campaigns operating in more than one state.
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- Exceed $50,000 in individual campaign contributions (excluding his/her own contributions) according to the FEC. (added Mar. 21, 2008)
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- File the proper FEC paperwork: quarterly if their campaign has less than $100,000 and monthly if they have more than $100,000. (added Mar. 21, 2008)
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Candidates must continually meet all of the above criteria. We will add those candidates who meet these criteria, and we will stop updating the profiles of candidates who no longer do.
Because the 2008 Election ProCon.org website is our first attempt at creating a pro-con presentation for an election, our criteria have been evolving since we started this project in December 2007. There have been incidents where we have not listed candidates who arguably should have been included and other incidents where we included candidates that arguably we should not have. For candidates in either category, we apologize. Because we believe that it is in our readers' interests for us to have the best and most transparent criteria, we may continue to adjust and refine our inclusion methodology with any future improvements.
For those candidates who no longer meet our criteria or who are actively running for President and have exceeded $25,000 in individual contributions according to the FEC, we have created a chart to show how close they are to meeting all of our criteria:
| Candidate's Name |
1. Filed FEC paperwork & received FEC ID # |
2. Active multi-state campaigns |
3. Individual campaign contributions exceed $50,000 |
4. Filed with FEC quarterly or monthly |
 Imperato, Daniel (Ind.) |
a |
a |
r
($0 as of Dec. 31, 2007) |
a |
| Kubby, Steve (Lib.) |
a |
a |
r
($5,630 as of Dec. 31, 2007) |
a |
| McEnulty, Frank (Ind.) |
a |
a |
r
($3,240 as of Jan. 16, 2008) |
a |
| Smith, Christine (Lib.) |
a |
a |
r
($5,242 as of Dec. 31, 2007) |
a |
a = Yes, has met criteria
r = No, has not met criteria
? = Unsure if candidate has met criteria