Punk Voter is "a coalition of over 130 bands and about 30 independent record labels" seeking to register and mobilize punk rock fans for the 2004 U.S. presidential election. But will the effort "serve to strengthen the very political system that punk has made its reputation attacking?" Scott Evans would say yes. He writes: "Last March [political punk band] Propagandhi withdrew from Punk Voter's Rock Against Bush Vol.

The environmental group Clear the Air asked the same research firm that the Bush administration used to analyze its plan to reduce coal plant emissions, the "Clear Skies Act," to compare Bush's plan to two other proposals before Congress. The resulting report found "Clear Skies" to be the weakest of the three.

The New York Times editorializes today in favor of a little known reform that might have a revitalizing affect on the US political process. Candidates can now draw a salary running their own campaign for Congress. "The victory of a Democratic lawyer, Stephanie Herseth, in the race last week for an open House seat in South Dakota had some intriguing implications. Ms. Herseth is the first successful Congressional candidate of either party to take advantage of a change in the campaign finance rules that allows federal candidates to pay themselves salaries from their campaign treasuries.