[July 4th]

They [the campaign] only exist in conjunction with the run-up to an election.

There - you've just said it yourself. The campaign is not the election. It may exist in conjunction, but that does not make it the same thing. Time, place, and manner refer to the election itself. The ballot, party access, voting rights. In election law, campaigns and elections are two entirely different chapters with entirely different jurisprudence. Even in the seminal campaign finance refrom case, Buckley, the actual election gets barely a mention. It's an entirely different event, and those who write the laws treat it as such.

[justshutupandtakeit]

Election campaigns are part of an election. They do not exist without an election; they stop after an election; they come into existance only when an election is scheduled.

They are not identical with an election but are a major component of it. I might wish it to be otherwise but it isn't.