Doug Ireland, who is taking part in openDemocracy's debate Rethinking Iraq, says in his blog that "a political crackdown on blogging is coming in the US - thanks to McCain Feingold":

Declan McCullagh has a piece out [3 March] for CNET that is a must-read for both bloggers and political activists: an interview with Bradley Smith, one of six members of the Federal Election Commission. It's a real eye-opener: Smith "says that the freewheeling days of political blogging and online punditry are over. In just a few months, he warns, bloggers and news organizations could risk the wrath of the federal government if they improperly link to a campaign's Web site. Even forwarding a political candidate's press release to a mailing list, depending on the details, could be punished by fines."