Unicorn Farms, Mike Duggan's Exploratory Committee, And Other Imaginary Things

Detroit Medical Center CEO Mike Duggan is reportedly poised to announce the formation of a mayoral exploratory committee in advance of Detroit's 2013 election.

What does that mean?

When a prospective presidential candidate forms an exploratory committee it isn't conjecture. Under federal election laws, an exploratory committee is a defined entity that can and cannot do certain things in advance of a potential presidential bid. 

The Atlantic explained the purpose of federal exploratory committees last year:

Exploratory committees, according to the FEC, are organizations that support a candidate who is considering a run for office -- in campaign-law parlance, one who is "testing the waters" of candidacy.

The functional difference is this: An exploratory committee doesn't have to report its finances to the FEC, whereas a campaign committee does. Until a campaign is official, the exploratory committee goes unscrutinized.

But Detroit's mayoral races aren't federal elections and Michigan's campaign finance and election laws do not reference or define "exploratory committee" for local elections.

Effectively, the term has "no distinction, locally" according to Lansing-based Democratic political consultant Joe DiSano. 

"I think it is a term of art and nothing more," DiSano said about Duggan's so-called exploratory committee. "Mike Duggan is running and running to win. Only fools believe he is exploring a campaign."

Duggan isn't alone in using the "exploratory committee" language of presidential campaigns to frame a potential mayoral run. Several online directories list an exploratory committee for 2009 mayoral runner-up Tom Barrow. 

Perhaps the lesson here is this: If you're running for mayor and want to appear like you have the stature for the job, act like you think you're presidential.