As November 5's national election looms in the United States, voters can expect increasing coverage of the hot-button issues through the mainstream media and campaign ads. On issues important to the open source and free software communities, however, information is harder to come by. Today we take a look at what the Democratic and Republican candidates say about questions close to the FOSS voter.

Douglas Karr at the Marketing Technology Blog decided to survey the Web sites of Presidential candidates, finding out what software they were running and where they were hosted. It’s curious that open source dominates among Democrats, with only Hillary Clinton crossing the aisle to run Windows. Four Republicans

Those of us who live in America are currently in the midst of that most protracted, expensive and (often) tedious of all democratic processes: the quadrennial quest to find, and perhaps even elect, the most able leader to guide the nation into the future. Part and parcel to that spectacle is a seemingly endless torrent of printed words and video.

here are those in whom challenge stirs greatness, those who rise to challenge rather than letting it break their stride or spin their compass,” said Tribe about Obama, the Democratic presidential candidate, whom he called “the most impressive and talented of the thousands of students I have been privileged to teach in nearly 40 years on the Harvard faculty.”

Most geeks that I have met tend to not hold a great deal of interest in politics. We generally would prefer to spend our time solving technical problems than debating presidential politics. However, if we compare the two men fighting to be the commander-in-chief of the United States for the next four years, one has a clear advantage from a Free Software perspective.

Philips might be taken to court after using illegal force to 'protect' patents; US candidates on patent reform; patent trolls watch.

The House of Representatives has passed the Restore Act, which facilitates broad surveillance of foreign terror groups while restoring the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Court's oversight of communications between foreign and domestic surveillance targets.

On Tuesday, December 2, at 10 a.m., the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) will challenge the constitutionality of a federal law aimed at granting immunity to telecommunications companies participating in illegal domestic surveillance.

"Hi all, The nomination period is at an end, with three candidates standing forth to be counted. We are now in the campaigning period. The candidates are..."