Free Republic

WASHINGTON - Political bloggers should not have their free speech rights infringed upon by campaign finance law, House lawmakers said Wednesday in debating legislation that critics said opens up a new loophole for uncontrolled campaign spending. The House was set to vote on the bill that would exclude blogs, e-mail and other Internet communications from regulation by the Federal Election Commission. The bill, if passed by the House and Senate, would stop the FEC from moving ahead with court-mandated rulemaking to govern political speech and campaign-related spending on the Internet. "The newest battlefield in the fight to protect the First...