The discussion on the consequences for politicians of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act continued this week with several mainstream media publications taking up the topic.
The New York Times op-ed article by respected scholar Charles Murray on the liklihood that the Act would damage Republican election aspirations has received wide coverage and was this week endorsed by the 120 000 strong Poker Players’ Alliance.
The Las Vegas Sun was one publication that based an article on Murray’s observations, commenting that an estimated 8 million Americans gamble online and quoting Murray’s remark: “We are talking about a lot of people … who are angry enough to vote on the basis of this one issue, and they blame Republicans,” said Murray, a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, writing in The New York Times.
The Poker Players Alliance, which fought the bill on Capitol Hill, says Murray is spot on.
The group’s president, Michael Bolcerek, said that in catering to the religious right, which pushed Congress for the ban, Republicans have antagonised the party’s rank and file who just want to play a few hands online. Bolcerek said he has been getting a continuous flow of e-mails from Republicans “who say they’re going to vote straight Democrat.” The group is urging its 120 000 members to vote – and posted congressional voting records at its Web site.
“We believe it was a miscalculation by the Republican Party to assume these people won’t go to the polls and vote on this issue,” Bolcerek said in an interview.
Murray argued that based on his online talks with poker players, he’s willing to bet many of the “outraged millions” are Republicans and Reagan Democrats. “This law all by itself could add a few more Democratic congressional seats in the fall elections,” he wrote.
A spokeswoman for Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., who had made the bill a priority, doubts its passage will hurt the GOP or depress Republican turnout. The bill’s passage comes after other big-ticket values agenda items such as bans on gay marriage and flag desecration failed over summer.