It won't protect them from losing, but Lexington Insurance Company is offering candidates a package of coverage against many of the risks that come with a political campaign, excluding embarrassment.

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

Called LexElect, the protection is available to U.S. Senate and House of Representatives campaigns, as well as gubernatorial and local campaigns.

The company said LexElect is being offered on a surplus lines basis exclusively through All Risks Ltd., and is underwritten out of the Baton Rouge, La. office of All Risk, a licensed insurance broker that provides access to the insurance of Lexington and other AIG Companies.

A brochure outlining the LexElect coverages explains that the package includes casualty coverages such as general liability coverage for campaign employees and volunteers.

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

The program covers hired/non-owned automobile liability insurance; employment practices liability insurance; and host liquor liability for campaign events where liquor is served, but not sold.

Other protection includes identity theft insurance, which covers liability and defense costs for "claims arising from an accidental or malicious breach of private information," and also costs associated with notifying campaign donors of a breach.

Henry Adams, a broker with All Risks, noted that many contributions are made over the Internet and the identity theft coverage protects the campaign if personal information, such as Social Security numbers or credit card numbers, is breached.

LexElect also provides coverages on the property side, including losses of office contents and property in transit, and crime coverage to protect against employee dishonesty, forgery and computer fraud.

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

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

Mr. Adams said that the coverage is new, and has only been offered for about 90 days. He noted that much of the country's focus has been on the presidential race recently, and the campaigns which LexElect is marketed for have not begun yet and are "just starting to get up and running."

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

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

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

They include: when an employee let go from the campaign alleges discrimination; if a visitor is accidentally injured at campaign headquarters and sues claiming that the committee is liable; when a worker en route to a campaign event is in an automobile accident and several people are injured and looking to the campaign for financial recourse; and if a dishonest employee skims from the large amounts of cash moving through the campaign.

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