Over the next three days, one Pete Ashdown will be competing in an on-line poll with other democratic senate candidates for funding from some group who I forget. Anybody can vote for him here, all you need is an email address.

So why should you care? Well, because he's running against one Senator Orrin Hatch. A man known for such magical actions as suggesting that the RIAA be able to wipe your hard drive if they find pirated music on it. The proposal of a bill that would make the federal government fund the RIAA's civil suits against children. And most recently, his willingness to pull a cocaine addict out of jail, as long as said addict is a record producer. (Whatever else you think about the war on drugs, it should be noted that Hatch is an ardent supporter of it, most of the time.)

Ashdown on the otherhand, has as part of his platform, the desire to reform patent and copyright law, and perhaps more importantly, can lend his insights into technology (he runs an ISP) to the Senate floor.

Oh, and for the republicans out there? He's only competing against other democrats, so this is your chance to take money away from the classical Dem, and give some to a guy who supports gun rights.