| Subject: news of the day 12/8/03 |
| From: Rick Hasen |
| Date: 12/8/2003, 8:22 AM |
| To: election-law |
See here.
Thanks to Douglas Kellner's post to the Votingtech list for bringing
this to my attention.
Robert X. Cringely offers these
thoughts.
See this
Des Moines Register report.
Thanks to Kieran Williams who called this to my attention, and asks:
"I'd be curious to know whether the list's readers agree that Iowa
NBC's lawyers indeed 'must not have finished law school,' as the
Sharpton campaign alleged."
See this
Heart newspapers report, previewing the Wednesday Supreme Court
argument in Vieth v. Jubelirer. See also this
oped column by Martin Dyckman.
Frequent readers of this blog know that one of the more interesting and troubling aspects of campaign finance regulation is the exemption to otherwise applicable limits on corporations for the institutional media. The issue may well be discussed in at least some of the opinions the Supreme Court will issue in the McCain-Feingold case, perhaps as early as Tuesday.
In the meantime, see NRA Seeks Status as a News Outlet in the Washington Post. The article begins: "Hoping to spend as much as it wants on next year's elections, the National Rifle Association is looking to buy a television or radio station and declare that it should be treated as a news organization, exempt from spending limits in the campaign finance law.
"We're looking at bringing a court case that we're as legitimate a
media outlet as Disney or Viacom or Time Warner," the NRA's executive
vice president, Wayne LaPierre, said in an interview. "
More on the new 527 organizations in this
Seattle Times report. See also Money,
Votes, Pursued for Democrats in the Washington Post.
A.P. offers this
report.
-- Rick Hasen Professor of Law and William M. Rains Fellow Loyola Law School 919 South Albany Street Los Angeles, CA 90015-1211 (213)736-1466 (213)380-3769 - fax rick.hasen@lls.edu http://www.lls.edu/academics/faculty/hasen.html http://electionlawblog.org