Campaign 2012: The Kabuki phase

POLITICO.com:

So it goes in the Kabuki theater phase of campaign 2012 in which none of the leading candidates will admit they’re candidates, their donor pitches and stump speeches are couched – sometimes barely – in the conditional, credulity straining denials such as Fehrnstrom’s are part of the press secretary’s vernacular, and an innocuous-sounding phrase such as “testing the waters” has far-reaching legal implications.

Because for Romney and other potential GOP candidates, deliberate obfuscation about their true ambitions is not just about being coy. It is about money and steering clear of election law violations.