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8 Election L.J. 1 (2009)

handle is hein.journals/enlwjr8 and id is 1 raw text is: ELECTION LAW JOURNAL
Volume 8, Number 1, 2009
Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.
DOI: 10.1089/elj.2009.8101

Editorial
The Party Line
Daniel H. Lowenstein and Richard L. Hasen

IT IS NOT SURPRISING that a significant percent-
lage of the papers in the Election Law Journal
fall within certain staple categories, such as
campaign finance, redistricting and voting
rights, and election administration. Other sub-
jects, such as ballot initiatives and term limits,
get occasional attention. Certain timely subjects
also get considerable coverage. For example,
ELJ has been a major forum for discussion of
the National Popular Vote Plan, whose adher-
ents wish to transform radically the nature of
the electoral college. Indeed, we have almost
cornered the market on serious debate of the
question whether the Plan requires congres-
sional approval as an interstate compact. We
also try to assure that ELJ contains a healthy
amount of international coverage. Finally, a
less frequent but important category consists of
articles on subjects that many election law prac-
titioners know little about but that are signifi-
cant and raise challenging issues. Two papers
published in our Volume 3, one by Evan Ger-
stmann and Matthew Streb on push polling
and another by John Fortier and Norman Orn-
stein on the way our system might respond to
a major terrorist attack on a presidential elec-
tion, are examples.
The first paper in this issue, by Matthew
Sanderson, falls into the last category. Sander-
son addresses electoral aspects of the vexing
and increasingly important subject that has
come to be known by its aficionados as cy-
bersquatting. Cybersquatting is a collection of
methods by which an Internet address likely to

be entered by an individual seeking a particu-
lar site-a political campaign for example-
brings the individual to quite a different place.
This may be done for mischief, for profit, or for
other purposes, but whatever the motivation,
it raises a host of legal and regulatory issues.
Sanderson's paper is aptly subtitled as a primer
and a proposal. We think most readers will find
it both informative and provocative.
Our second paper, by Beth Ann Rosenson,
falls within one of our staple categories, cam-
paign finance. As many of our readers know,
since the 1976 decision in Buckley v. Valeo, reduc-
tion of corruption or the perception of corrup-
tion has been the primary defense of campaign
finance restrictions against First Amendment
challenges. One result has been heightened in-
terest in what influences the perception of cor-
ruption. Rosenson examines one piece of this
puzzle by analyzing a survey of one group that
is unusually knowledgeable regarding the level
of corruption in state governments and unusu-
ally influential in forming public opinion,
namely reporters who cover state government.
The survey seeks to determine how three broad
reform measures influence reporters' perception
of the degree of corruption: limits on campaign
contributions and public financing of cam-
paigns, legislative professionalization, and the
availability of the initiative process. Some of her
conclusions may surprise you.
The issue also features book reviews by
Grant Hayden, John Matsusaka, Robert Mont-
joy, and Richard Smolka.

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