Why 1606 failed

So if HR 1606 was worthy of passage (and Adam explains why it was), why did it fail? Here's why?

The House leadership quietly added it to the suspension calendar, bypassing committees. That allowed the bill to move to the floor unamendable, but it set the bar higher for passage: a two-thirds majority was needed.

And until this week, the leadership was largely convinced they had enough votes -- virtually all Republicans and a good number of Democrats.

Then Rep. Marty Meehan (D-MA) began to whip. His office set up a warroom with Rep. Chris Shays (R-CT) and public interest groups. Meehan, Shays and co. lobbied centrists and those Republicans who voted for campaign finance legislation. They created outrage that the bill was sneakily placed on the suspension calendar.

The out-of-touch "reform" groups played the game like it's always been played in DC -- they have their lobbyists running a whip operation with their elected official allies. Bloggers don't have that. We're just regular citizens.

So how can bloggers compete against a well-heeled, well-oiled, and well-funded political machine stacked against us? There's a romantic notion that citizen activism can defeat entrenched interests, but alas, that's clearly not the case.

Perhaps it's time bloggers invest in lobbyists, as distasteful as that sounds, lest hostile groups continue to work to destroy this most democratic of mediums.

Once again, an encore of those Democrats that voted to support a free and independent citizen media:

Joe Baca (CA) John Barrow (GA) Howard Berman (CA) Stanford Bishop (GA) Earl Blumenauer (OR) Dan Boren (OK) Rick Boucher (VA) Sherrod Brown (OH) Michael Capuano (MA) Dennis Cardoza (CA) Ben Chandler (KY) Lacy Clay (MO) John Conyers (MI) Jim Costa (CA) Bud Cramer (AL) Henry Cuellar (TX) Lincoln Davis (TN) Anna Eshoo (CA) Chaka Fattah (PA) Stephanie Herseth (SD) Mike Honda (CA) Steny Hoyer (MD) Patrick Kennedy (RI) Barbara Lee (CA)

Zoe Lofgren (CA) Jim Matheson (UT) Cynthia McKinney (GA) Charlie Melancon (LA) John Murtha (PA) Collin Peterson (MN) Nick Rahall (WV) Mike Ross (AR) Tim Ryan (OH) John Salazar (CO) Loretta Sanchez (CA) David Scott (GA) Jose Serrano (NY) Adam Smith (WA) Ted Strickland (OH) Mike Thompson (CA) Mark Udall (CO) Maxine Waters (CA) Diane Watson (CA) Lynn Woolsey (CA) Albert Wynn (MD)

And remember, this isn't about blogs. It's about all internet communication technologies -- wikis, podcasters, social networking software, email distribution lists, newsgroups, static websites, news aggregators, and so on. The political internet is much, much larger than just blogs.