19 Presidential Candidates In Search Of A Broadband Policy

Telecom Policy Report, July 23, 2007

And in this corner is the Number One challenger, at least at this stage of the process, for the Democratic nomination.

If you're a Democrat who has to choose between the two based on their broadband positions - forget it. The senator from Illinois supports net neutrality and broadband in "rural towns" all over America. And, oh yes, also in America's inner cities. Linking the two, of course, is a neat way to troll for votes from two very different constituencies.

Obama doesn't sport credentials at all as the co-sponsor or primary sponsor of any bills directly relating to broadband. Possibly the positions he has staked out are those inserted by his speech writers.

Joe Biden

Aha...we've found a Democratic candidate who isn't running with the crowd on broadband. Sen. Joseph Biden is one of the few in his party speaking out against net-neutrality rules. Basically, Biden has said he's waiting for someone to prove to him there's a real problem that exists.

In another area, which isn't broadband per se but is rather an issue enabled by broadband, Biden has staked out a position supporting strong protection of intellectual property, fretting that "the advent of broadband and other emerging technologies is making theft and reproduction of intellectual property easier," according to a Los Angeles Times op-ed piece Biden wrote in 2003 and from which the WCA quotes.

It doesn't seem Biden has followed up his editorial with legislation that would help solve the issue of IP theft. And it's four years since he wrote the piece.

Chris Dodd

Connecticut's Sen. Chris Dodd is yet another net-neutrality advocate, but his statements essentially are generalized murmurs of support. To us, it looks like he figured he had to take a position, but there's no passion behind it.

Dodd did have passion for Y2K, we note, as vice chairman of the Senate Special Committee on the Year 2000 Technology Problem. Y2K, as it turned, wasn't a big problem. Rather, it was a solution in search of a problem, sort of like net neutrality, we might say.

John Edwards

The former senator from North Carolina, John Edwards, proposes legislation that would force telephone and cable companies to provide the same level of broadband service in rural communities as they do for city dwellers. Now, as we recall, candidate Obama was fretting that inner-city dwellers are in broadband straits as dire as those in rural areas - so using that formula, we could say Edwards has gotten his wish.

Edwards does, however, point out that the United States has fallen steeply in worldwide broadband penetration standings - he quotes figures showing the country now at Number 21, behind such countries as Estonia. But just how either improved rural broadband access or net neutrality would change the situation, he hasn't explained.

Mike Gravel

Mike Gravel, another former U.S. senator (from Alaska) seeking the nomination, has not even taken a position on broadband. The last time he said anything coherent, the WCAI survey indicates, was back in November 2000, when he came up with the sage conclusion that "the Internet, in my view, will usher in the Age of Democracy."