23
2004
This week’s eWeek column is a round up of stuff in Congress that tech folks care about: stock options and copyright.
Nothing too fancy; the action’s going to come during a lame duck Congressional session after the election. Lame ducks used to be unusual. There was one in 1994 for Nafta. That was the first in more than 10 years (or five Congressinal sessions). But things have gotten so bad, now they have lame ducks every session. I’m telling you, we’re due for a change if for no other reason that the nation’s business interests can't get anything done in Congress. A paralyzed government is bad for all of us.
In doing the eWeek piece, I found some interesting numbers on Congressional races. It’s been overshadowed by the presidential race and, of course, we here in California are pretty much written off on a number of levels. But there really is a shot that the Democrats could take the Senate. Same on the House side. They’re slim odd but the presidential race has very tight margins. And yes, as you might expect, many of the presidential swing states are the one with tight Congressional or Senate races. So maybe, just maybe Democratic Leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi could become Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. Now, there’s a party I’d like to attend.
About.com has a couple of nice charts on House and Senate races so you have a look. The Republican majority in the Senate is 8 seats. In the House it’s 12 and there’s some reason for a little teeny bit of optimism.