PARODY SITE WINS AT FEC

The Federal Election Commission has dismissed a complaint against a parody
Web site that portrays Texas Gov. George W. Bush as a drug-addicted
hypocrite. Bush campaign officials filed the complaint with the FEC last
year, arguing that the site, www.gwbush.com, attempts to influence the
presidential election and should therefore be treated as a political
committee subject to federal election laws.

On the campaign trail last year, Bush ripped into the site's operator,
Massachusetts computer programmer Zack Exley, calling him a "garbage man"
and saying there should be "limits to freedom," a quote now prominently
displayed on the site.

Exley has said he does not intend to influence the election but simply
wants to air his views about Bush through political parody.

The FEC said on Tuesday that it had found "no evidence of serious intent"
on Exley's part to violate election law.

Free speech advocates and academics studying the use of the Internet in
politics are keeping a close eye on what happens to Exley's site, believing
it could help set the standard for how other politically oriented sites on
the Internet are treated. A spokesman said the Bush campaign plans no
further action against the site.

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Staff writers Ceci Connolly and Helen Dewar contributed to this report.