Salon has an interesting article today on political spam. The question at hand is whether it’s different than any other spam. I don’t think I recieved any political spam this election, although I did recieve a boatload of calls at home from campaign volunteers and with recordings of the candidates. My first thoughts on political spam is that it is distinct from commercial spam, but that doesn’t mean I want anyone to send me any. I’d have to guess though that the returns on it are good. Spam really only offends a small percentage of people, and if both sides spam, then there’ll be no reason to vote for one over the other due to their spamming. The nasty thing about political spam is that it’s closely tied to geography. Spamming Texans to vote for a Senate candidate in Michigan is obnoxious, and it’s not like making Texas voters angry affects how many votes you get in Michigan either. I’d prefer it if politicians didn’t spam, but I’ll be shocked if either the law or good sense gets them to stop.