It won't protect them from losing, but Lexington InsuranceCompany is offering candidates a package of coverage against manyof the risks that come with a political campaign, excludingembarrassment.

According to the American International Group subsidiary, it isthe first time such a variety of coverages in a single package hasbeen offered.

Called LexElect, the protection is available to U.S. Senate andHouse of Representatives campaigns, as well as gubernatorial andlocal campaigns.

The company said LexElect is being offered on a surplus linesbasis exclusively through All Risks Ltd., and is underwritten outof the Baton Rouge, La. office of All Risk, a licensed insurancebroker that provides access to the insurance of Lexington and otherAIG Companies.

A brochure outlining the LexElect coverages explains that thepackage includes casualty coverages such as general liabilitycoverage for campaign employees and volunteers.

It also provides fundraising event liability insurance forfunctions held throughout the campaign that have a maximum of 2,000guests in attendance.

The program covers hired/non-owned automobile liabilityinsurance; employment practices liability insurance; and hostliquor liability for campaign events where liquor is served, butnot sold.

Other protection includes identity theft insurance, which coversliability and defense costs for "claims arising from an accidentalor malicious breach of private information," and also costsassociated with notifying campaign donors of a breach.

Henry Adams, a broker with All Risks, noted that manycontributions are made over the Internet and the identity theftcoverage protects the campaign if personal information, such asSocial Security numbers or credit card numbers, is breached.

LexElect also provides coverages on the property side, includinglosses of office contents and property in transit, and crimecoverage to protect against employee dishonesty, forgery andcomputer fraud.

Mr. Adams said that the idea for LexElect arose out ofcampaigns' needs to seek insurance for their special events. Hesaid, "Where this came from was, in the past, these campaigns wouldbe having special events at a hotel or wherever, and the venuewould say, 'Where is your certificate of insurance?' and [thecampaign] would say, 'My what?'"

"And so they would have to go out and get special eventscoverage, which would just cover them for that event. And what[LexElect] does is it covers them for all their events, and takesthem through the election and beyond."

Mr. Adams said that the coverage is new, and has only beenoffered for about 90 days. He noted that much of the country'sfocus has been on the presidential race recently, and the campaignswhich LexElect is marketed for have not begun yet and are "juststarting to get up and running."

He said that as these campaigns have been gearing up, interestin LexElect has increased. "We have written a couple of handfuls ofpolicies so far," Mr. Adams said. He added that there has beenequal interest at both the national and local levels.

Mr. Adams said that no other insurance company is offering asimilar package of coverages to political campaigns.

The brochure cited specific incidents that could arise during acampaign that would be covered by LexElect.

They include: when an employee let go from the campaign allegesdiscrimination; if a visitor is accidentally injured at campaignheadquarters and sues claiming that the committee is liable; when aworker en route to a campaign event is in an automobile accidentand several people are injured and looking to the campaign forfinancial recourse; and if a dishonest employee skims from thelarge amounts of cash moving through the campaign.