In the case of the heavily trafficked Kos, the FEC said, “Activity on the DailyKos website does not constitute a contribution or expenditure that would trigger political committee status.”

Exemptions for media have been in existence since 1974. Said the FEC:

In March 2006, the Commission made clear that this exemption extends to online media publications and that “costs incurred in covering or carrying a news story, commentary, or editorial by any broadcasting station. . . , Web site, newspaper, magazine, or other periodical publication, including any Internet or electronic publication,” are not a contribution or expenditure unless the facility is owned by a political party, committee, or candidate.

DailyKos had been challenged by Part Time Pundit blogger John C.A. Bambenek, while Grace faced a complaint from House member Mary Bono (R-CA).

Bambenek accused DailyKos of failure to register as a political committee, while Bono’s lawyer said Grace’s work for her opponent generated unreported expenditures; coordination; and fraudulent misrepresentation of campaign authority.

Chris Bowers of the blog MyDD (Direct Democracy), with friends on the Left like the DailyKos, the HuffingtonPost, and MoveOn.org, invited those of like-philosophy to participate in a Republican smear campaign tentatively named “Google Bombing The Election.”

This particular Google-bomb is quite sophisticated, carrying a double warhead containing manipulated search results and an AdWords campaign. It is targeted at the 70 Republican candidates running for Congress across the nation – a list that includes Rick Santorum and recently controversial George Allen.

From Bowers description:

Bowers said that BlogPac, an organization devoted to “waging politics online” run by Bowers and MyDD blogger Matt Stoller, would pay the costs of an AdWords campaign targeting what he predicts to be 20 million voters searching for candidates online.

It is unclear as to whether negative political AdWords campaigns are really allowed. Google has been known to ban political advertisements as a violation of guidelines against “the advertisement of websites that contain language that advocates against an individual, group, or organization.”

But that may be a technicality if they’re advertising a news article instead of a website. Google has not responded for comment on the planned Google-bomb.

The setting off of the bomb comes with some interesting timing. Just today, Google announced the release of the Google Earth Election Guide, a service that gathers information about candidates running in every district – who’s running, their campaign finance information, voter registration sites, and live feeds from Web search and News search results.

If Bowers accomplishes his mission, that new service will be an unexpected extension of the arsenal. Not to aid their enemies or anything, but it seems an AdWords campaign is easily defeated if Republican opposition wanted to engage in some click fraud to drain BlogPac’s advertising budget.

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