It was the sweltering late summer, 2007, in Washington DC. The House of Representatives was smack in the middle of debate over the controversial Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. And members of Congress, expected to render judgment on legislation that would fundamentally impact core America rights, hadn't laid eyes upon the latest copy of the bill. It's "just absolute lunacy," said California Republican David Dreir of the situation at the time...On the point above, one of the fundamental questions of our time is this: how do we use all the government information the Internet might set free for public good? An open debate over that question is now taking place on the Google Group of the Sunlight Foundation's nascent Open Senate Project...The latest email from Obama campaign manager David Plouffe announcing the selection of the incoming administration's national security and foreign policy team includes a big ol' red button asking for contributions...and much more.

If you were born before, oh, 1975, you might not be familiar with Channel One. Born after, and you probably know it's an in-class news and advertising network beamed out to millions of American school kids. For the fourth time, the network is holding a mock online election that asks students for their presidential picks, a project called One Vote; The Internet might just be used for dirty election tricks this cycle, from denial-of-service attacks on candidates' websites to spoof emails purported to be from election officials, according to a hefty new report;The McCain campaign has launched an "I'm Joe the Plumber" video contest, the winner of which will, the campaign says, be used in a TV ad; and a good helping of more.