Prior to the elections, CNET News.com graded Congress on technology votes covering such topics as the federal Can-Spam Act, taxing online purchases and making the ban on Net-access taxes permanent.
\nConsidering that the election was supposedly about big ticket items like Iraq and Congressional corruption, it seems that arcana like Net neutrality wouldn’t have captured the public interest.
\nThat’s probably true of most of the country, but not necessarily in the geographic regions with a large population of high tech workers.
\nHere’s a rundown of how the highest and lowest-rated Senators and Representatives who were up for reelection fared.<\/p>
\nSenate:
\nGeorge Allen (R, VA) who scored highest among Republicans, was defeated.
\nMaria Cantwell (D, WA), the highest-scoring Democrat, was reelected.
\nDaniel Akaka (D, HI), the lowest-scoring Democrat, was also reelected.
\nMike DeWine (R, OH), the lowest-scoring Republican, was defeated.
\nHouse:
\nZoe Lofgren(D, CA) and Ellen Tauscher(D, CA), the highest-scoring Democrats, and Ron Paul (D, TX), the highest-scoring Republican, all were reelected.
\nThe lowest-scoring Democrats were all re-elected: John Barrow (GA), John Salazar (CO) and Pete Visclosky (IN), as were the lowest-scoring Republicans: Geoff Davis (KY) and Lynn Westmoreland (GA).
\nIn other words, a zero net gain or loss. The point is, though, that California, Washington and Texas, all of which have solid high tech communities, returned their pro-tech Congress people to office.
\nMaybe someone in those states actually was paying attention.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Prior to the elections, CNET News.com graded Congress on technology votes covering such topics as the federal Can-Spam Act, taxing online purchases and making the ban on Net-access taxes permanent. Considering that the election was supposedly about big ticket items … Continue reading