Why Political Bloggers Can Breathe Easier

Reprinted with permission from CNet.com.

The Internet offers a variety of ways for the public to express views and take part in elections.

Indeed, in my last column, I wrote about how a federal appellate court has blessed vote-swapping sites. This provides a way for voters in different states to ensure the same number of votes for their respective candidates while in the process helping one of their candidates beat yet a third candidate. For example, in the 2000 presidential election, supporters of Al Gore and Ralph Nader could swap votes to help Gore try to beat George Bush in hotly contested states.

And now I can report that, political bloggers can breathe a sigh of relief, as the Federal Election Commission (FEC) has just resolved two complaints by determining that Internet blogging activities are not within FEC regulation because such activities fall within media and volunteer exemptions to the Federal Election Campaign Act.