House Defeats Bill on Political Blogs

The AP reports:

Online political expression should not be exempt from campaign finance law, the House decided Wednesday as lawmakers warned that the Internet has opened up a new loophole for uncontrolled spending on elections.

The House voted 225-182 for a bill that would have excluded blogs, e-mails and other Internet communications from regulation by the Federal Election Commission. That was 47 votes short of the two-thirds majority needed under a procedure that limited debate time and allowed no amendments.

The vote in effect clears the way for the FEC to move ahead with court-mandated rule-making to govern political speech and campaign spending on the Internet.

Opposition was led by Rep. Marty Meehan, D-Mass., who with Rep. Christopher Shays, R-Conn., championed the 2002 campaign finance law that banned unlimited ``soft money'' contributions that corporations, unions and individuals were making to political parties.

``This is a major unraveling of the law,'' Meehan said. At a time when Washington is again being tainted by scandal, including the CIA leak case, ``it opens up new avenues for corruption to enter the political process.''

Mr.Meehan isn't a big fan of competition but then nobody who supports McCain-Feingold is for a free market in speech.