Do As I Say, Not As I Spam

Florida Attorney General Charlie Crist spent at least some of his time in office fighting spam, defined in one of his press releases as "an annoying, intrusive form of e-mail that almost all of us receive but few of us want." In 2004, he pushed for legislation giving his office the authority to prosecute spammers. Now he is running for the Republican gubernatorial nomination. His campaign strategy of choice? Mass e-mails begging for cash. Explains Crist's political director:

"It's not spam…It's political speech. We're not selling anything, we're not being deceptive. We love the First Amendment, and there's nothing more powerful than political speech."

Reason's Nick Gillespie penned a paean to Spam back in 2003.