whoa... can you confirm the fec verification rule thing? Very interesting point you make if you can confirm.
http://texasdarlin.wordpress.com/2008/07/11/who-examines-an-application-for-the-presidency/
Read this. It is an article by a historian who is researching this.
Now he has people who claimed to have called the FEC regarding eligibility and they said there is no oversight agency unless they request campaign funds.
I may call myself, just for my own knowledge and I can say *I* know this. You know?
It's what the statute says. To get federal funds, you got to get the FEC to certify that you are eligible to hold the office.
To be fair, a candidate who can raise more money privately than he can get from the government might not take the federal money--although Obama was adamant throughout the campaign that he would take federal money. However in his case, there are a number of news stories that have the Saudis and the Palestinians trying to buy a President of the US with several hundred million dollars of "campaign contributions" so he gets more money from them than he does from the federal government. All illegal of course but no practical remedy at the moment.