Federal Elections Commission member Bradley Smith here discusses the possibility that the act of linking to an official campaign web site could be considered a "contribution" for purposes of campaign finance law - same for reproducing campaign materials on a blog or forwarding it to a mailing list . . . and it sounds like he's talking about situations where it's done without formal coordation between a blogger and a campaign. The only "exceptions" are for the "press" -- which doesn't include bloggers, of course. You can expect the MSM enthusiastically to embrace this approach.

Is this America? Apparently, the government can't do much to regulate internet porn -- the Supreme Court has already struck down the Child Online Protection Act. But it sounds like the government may well be given the power to monitor bloggers engaged in what should be the most sacred province of the Constitution's free speech guarantee -- the right to engage in political speech.

Outrageous!