Another Game-legislating Politician Eyes White House Run in 2008

Another Game-legislating Politician Eyes White House Run in 2008

December 4, 2006
Early contenders for the 2008 presidential campaign include several candidates with a track record of attempting to legislate video games.

There's Hillary Clinton (D-NY), of course, sponsor of the Family Entertainment Protection Act (FEPA). She hasn't announced yet, but her candidacy seems a given.

GamePolitics reported recently on the presidential aspirations of conservative Sam Brownback (R-KS). He is co-sponsor (with Clinton and others) of the Children & Media Research Advancement Act (CAMRA), recently passed by the Senate.

Add one more game legislating pol to the list. The Associated Press reports Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh (D) may launch his presidential campaign as early as this week. Bayh cosponsored FEPA with Senate colleague Clinton. Considered a centrist, he is the former governor of Indiana.  

Likely candidates who haven't weighed in the video game issue include Republicans John McCain, Mit Romney and Rudy Guiliani as well as Democrats John Edwards, John Kerry (GP: OMG, not again, please...), Tom Vilsack and Joe Biden.

Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, another possible candidate, hasn't introduced any game legislation, but the Washington Post reported earlier this year that he snubbed Doug Lowenstein by returning a $500 campaign contribution made by the ESA boss. That's obviously a bad sign for the video game industry.

Comments

Although considering how most would have lit the cheque on fire in public, while stuffing movie company cheques in their back pocket, I guess Obama's reaction was showy, but not altogether controvertial. UNLESS he did accept a cheque from the movie industry...
he co-sponsored FEPA?
I wouldn't worry about him. he's just a bandwagon whore.
As a resident of Illinois, I must remind people the real problem with Obama. HE HASN'T FREAKING DONE ANYTHING YET!!! Can we please vote for people to the office of presidency that have more qualifications than A) is an American, B) is a politician, C) is old enough, and D) speaks with a good voice?

I'm gonna turn from angry to sad now, because last night I learned that of all the presidential hopefuls combined, it seems that I have a lot more in common with Lieberman and Bayh, and I can't really stand either one. This may turn in to a "King of the Cosmos, Prince of the Cosmos: 2008" write-in from me.
Is it possible to see who has contributed to Obama's war chest? I'm honestly all for pols not taking money from corporate interests, but if he's specifically snubbing the video game industry rather than corporations as a whole, then it certainly begs some questions.
Also, @BlitzFitness: Part of me wants to think that people other than career politicians have a shot at the presidency, and that Obama's relative novelty shouldn't be that big a problem. But part of me agrees with you - he hasn't really done ANYTHING aside from be a highly eloquent senator that I know of. For that reason I sometimes think his campaign will run out of steam way too quickly for him to get the nod as Democratic candidate.
@Benji

Depends how your campaign contribution laws work down there. Up here it's only required during election time, if it's for something like a party leadership race, it's not required, unless it's a large contribution...
I don't know if Obama returning the money to Lowenstein is something bad. It could be that he is against government regulation of video games, but doesn't want to take any contribution from the video game industry. This way, no one can claim that he was "bought" off by the video game industry if he votes against video game bills, the way other lawmakers have been bought off by the movie industry like Liar Leland Yee. So Obama returning the money can actually be a good thing afterall.
I'm going to be spending a lot of time over break tearing apart a couple political books, first to better analyze my own understanding of politics and then to see whether Obama would make a good presidential choice. Obama is definitely green, but he has charisma and can talk the talk. I agree with Gamer81 about the campaign contribution thing. This could just be a wise political move more than a statement on his personal convictions.

I'm still greatly interested in whether Obama can walk the walk.

And whether he can be nominated for President and avoid getting a crapload of death threats from stupid white supremacists.
@Benji

http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/contrib.asp?CID=N00009638&cycle=2...

(all numbers are for the most recent election cycle)

Like most congressmen in the US, the vast majority of funds come from rich individual donors (yes, Democrats too,). The top twenty contributors are in that URL above. As for money from other entertainment sources:

RIAA: $2,000
Jim Beam: $1,000
Best Buy: $2,000

I'm not going to count the $9,500 he got from various Telcos.

While I'm on the site, Evan Bayh:

http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/contrib.asp?CID=N00003762&cycle=2...

His top contributors.

As for entertainment money it looks like it's mainly Comcast for $500 and the National Assoc. of Broadcasters for $2,000. Again (for those of you interested in net neutrality from the other thread) Telcos and/or ISPs are very heavily represented.
A side note, BTW, for the people who talk about how Big Business (whether it's Big Telcos, Big Banks, or Big anything else) buys Washington. Of the ten biggest contributing organizations, only #2 (AT&T) and #9 (Goldman Sachs) are businesses. ALL the rest are Trade and Labor Unions. And to demonstrate the recursive nature of all political power, the -biggest- Union contributing to politicians' campaigns? AFSCME.
@Benji:

I understand what you mean. I'm in no way an Obama-basher (I voted for him), but I'm beginning to worry that we have too many chickens and not enough eggs.

@Brer: Interesting find. *Bookmarks*
Bah! Brownback. Screw him, Mr. Destroytheesrbwithcraftybill man.
Hey grahamr

Relax dude, Brownbacks bill is DOA. No judge on earth would back that bill. Aside from 1st and 14th amendment, it runs afoul of any number of laws regarding government take over of private industry.

So, no worries, brownbacks to stupid.
After reading more stuff about him and all of his agendas and goals, I've decided that if Brownback wins, I'm moving to the freakin' UK.
@ BlitzFitness and @Benji

Obama has done PLENTY to earn his respect.

but don't take my word for it..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obama

or you can ask anyone thats better informed.

plus his books are pretty good reads, too.

And video game legislation is not even close to his priorities, so I don't think he will waste time and money trying.
This is bad. People keep supporting politicians who are in favor of video game legislation. The video game industry needs to fight back against this threat. We need to show politicians that being in favor of legislation against video games is a bad thing, not a good thing.If they start to see it as a minus, instead of a plus, they will stop trying to get games banned and make unfair laws regulating the sale of violent video games. Every body should be able to play these games. The part that really is amazing is that if you go to other web sites, you will see that Jack Thompson is very abusive and mean to anyone who doesn't totally agree with him. He's not a nice guy and he's saying gamers are nasty? If he wants to talk about nastiness, he should look at his own responses to gamers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

GamePolitics ShoutBox

Posted 11/08/09 at 09:02am
DarkSaber: http://tinyurl.com/yez7jyo
Posted 11/08/09 at 09:01am
DarkSaber: Oh for gods sake, the Gearbox pres is gobbing off about Valve again
Posted 11/08/09 at 08:53am
JDKJ: But cheer up, Austin. If the unemployment rate continues to double-digit as predicted for the next few years, your half-dozen stands a better than likely chance of returning to power.
Posted 11/08/09 at 08:46am
JDKJ: @DS: If he had added the line about "or hiring illegals aliens under the table to work as nannies," it would have been a completely perfect descripition. And, yes, it's about the same difference between a six and a half-dozen.
Posted 11/08/09 at 08:31am
DarkSaber: My god, that description makes them sound almost Republican. Still what did you expect, Obama is only marginally more left than republicans.
Posted 11/08/09 at 01:07am
Austin_Lewis: Health insurance, brought to you by the same kind of bureacrats who couldn't, in timely fashion, investigate the comments of any of the men Obama appointed Czars. Or their past. Or their history of not paying taxes.
Posted 11/08/09 at 01:06am
Austin_Lewis: Yes, and what a piece of crap it was. Arresting and fining people just because they don't make a personal choice to buy healh insurance, creating over a hundred new bureacracies, and worse.
Posted 11/08/09 at 12:24am
ZippyDSMlee: JDKJ:the only trouble is a bunch of witless hacks wrote it....its going to be a train wreck....
Posted 11/07/09 at 11:33pm
JDKJ: BREAKING: In a photo-finish at the wire, House passes health care reform bill. Relatedly, in a fit of pique, Austin Lewis kicks innocent dog.
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ZippyDSMlee: man I got alot of junk and dup files too >< god I need orginization...and no not the knee capping media mafia kind :P
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ZippyDSMlee: replaced :P
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Posted 11/07/09 at 04:18pm
beemoh: @Zip: ...and you'd have to spend all that time re-downloading that porn?
Posted 11/07/09 at 03:34pm
ZippyDSMlee: ggrrrrr......vista lost one of my hard drives and I had a heart attack thinking I lost 1TB of data....
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:58am
JDKJ: Which could be explained by both (a) and (b).
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:56am
Austin_Lewis: JDKJ: You forgot C) the fact that, for some reason, every time he did something that would suggest he shouldn't be in the military, let alone an officer, higher ups ignored it or let it slide.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:51am
JDKJ: Part of the problem is, I believe, that (a) the Army had a lot of time and money already invested in him and which they were unwilling to simply write-off and (b) an increasing need for the type of skills and services he provided.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:48am
JDKJ: And that even if he was begging not to get cut loose, he was apparently a real good candidate for being cut loose, anyway.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:11am
JDKJ: @chada: And while Kennedy once noted that there's usually more than enough blame for everyone to get a slice, the possibility that the Army was unwilling to cut loose someone who was asking to get cut loose could be a factor.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:07am
ZippyDSMlee: *noms on his feet*..nomnomnomnom*droooll* ...wuuutttttt uuu looking at?
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