Remember the whole debacle where the idiots at Daily Kos removed Sheehan from their lives because she had the liberal cojones to run against Speaker Pelosi? They said they made it clear their goal is to "elect Democrats." That prompted some action from John Bambenek:

Today I filed an Federal Election Commission (FEC) complaint against Kos Media, LLC., better known as DailyKos.com. I allege that they operate as a political committee and are therefore subject to FEC rules.

I first thought of this complaint during the Cindy Sheehan debacle over at Daily Kos, where Cindy pledged to run as an independent against Nancy Pelosi, and the Daily Kos basically turned on her. While some conservatives took great delight in this, I really didn't care because it's politics as usual. The right has thrown their fair share of people under the bus for not drinking the Kool-aid too.

However, the statement that the DailyKos was about electing Democrats stuck with me. I always assumed it was a standard left-wing group blog spouting the latest and greatest in left-wing diatribe. However, the statement that the blog exists to get Democrats elected is repeated in various places around the site, including statements by Kos himself.

Federal Election Commission rules apply for organizations that spend or contribute an equivalent of $1,000 per year in trying to influence elections for federal office. DailyKos is owned by Kos Media, a company, which makes it fit the definition of an organization. It surely spends at least $1,000 per year in hosting and based on what they charge (and get) for advertising, their support of candidates is certainly worth over $1,000 per year. Lastly, their self-identified purpose is to influence elections in the Democrats favor. They fit the criteria.

What's going to be the final outcome of this? That'll depend upon the Federal Election Commission and their rulings on Daily Kos. To throw in my opinion, I think it would be devastatingly harmful to the blogosphere if the FEC targeted Kos for what they write. Considering all the idiotic campaign finance laws however, Kos might need reining in on what they spend. The Part-Time Pundit takes on Kos...