We have a democrat who bought a new car with campaign funds. When questioned, he noted that he bought the vehicle to transport campaign signs and other campaign materials around his district.
O’Donnell charged for her part of her living expenses because she used her home as her campaign headquarters.
She could have been bowling with a potential donor.
I don’t think you have to be formally announced to be a candidate, once you have been a candidate and set up the appropriate mechanisms for campaign funds.
For example, Senators have campaign-related expenses every year, but they usually don’t formally announce their re-elections until the last year or so.
She said she was running for senate again back in early 2009. She waited until this year to make the formal announcement, but she’s been running for this seat ever since the last election.
BTW, CNN (the reporter) is now who made the statements about O’Donnell. All the statements about her, including the “she wasn’t even running in 2009” were from the CREW press release.
This article is a reporter’s regurgitation of the CREW press announcement of their complaint.
I would not be surprised if the reason for the canceled Face the Nation was someone on her team found out that they were planning to ambush her with this stuff.