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Good article that has lots of info on the SuperPAC stuff.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/polit...eb1_story.html

A close reading of FEC regulations reveals that campaigns can do more than just publicly signal their needs to independent groups, a practice that flourished in the 2014 midterms.

Operatives on both sides can talk to one another directly, as long as they do not discuss candidate strategy. According to an FEC rule, an independent group also can confer with a campaign until this fall about “issue ads” featuring a candidate. Some election-law lawyers think that a super PAC could share its entire paid media plan, as long as the candidate’s team does not respond.

...

But many experts say that the limited-coordination rules are emblematic of an outdated, incoherent and often contradictory campaign finance framework.

“We’re at this transitional point where the way money is raised and spent and the costs of campaigns have changed so dramatically,” said Bob Bauer, a prominent campaign finance lawyer who served as White House counsel for President Obama. “The problem isn’t that the law isn’t being enforced — the problem is that we need to rethink the whole thing from the ground up.”

Political strategists on both sides of the aisle agree, saying that navigating the complex legal thickets is increasingly difficult.

“If you talk to three lawyers, you are likely to get three different answers,” said Phil Cox, executive director of America Leads, a super PAC supporting Chris Christie, the Republican governor of New Jersey. “The system makes no sense. It’s crying out for reform. We need to put the power back in the hands of the candidates and their campaigns, not the outside groups.”

EDIT: The 3 pronged test:

http://www.fec.gov/pages/brochures/indexp.shtml