Thank You Sarah Palin! and the long campaign

The above ad, in which a bunch of supporters say "Thank you, Sarah Palin!", has been making the political rounds.

Naturally, my first thought on seeing it went to tax law. Y'see, a political action committee is exempt from taxation to the extent that receives contributions and makes expenditures for exempt functions. An exempt function, sayeth Section 527(e)(2) of the Internal Revenue Code, means

the function of influencing or attempting to influence the selection, nomination, election, or appointment of any individual to any Federal, State, or local public office or office in a political organization, or the election of Presidential or Vice-Presidential electors, whether or not such individual or electors are selected, nominated, elected, or appointed.

All of which is to say, this ad isn't about thanking Sarah Palin at all. It's looking forward, not backward. You've just seen the first candidate campaign ad for the 2012 presidential election.