"A huge door is closing within our government," warns Steven Aftergood, a government secrecy expert at the Federation of American Scientists. Aftergood is referring to new efforts by the Department of Homeland Security to keep sensitive - but unclassified - information out of the public domain. According to a department directive, "employees and contractors can be searched at any place or any time to ensure they are in compliance with the policy. They can also face administrative, civil or criminal penalties if they violate the rules." Susan Stranahan warns that "the cloak of secrecy is spreading rapidly under the guise of enhancing national security. ... But the secrets guarded by those in Washington don't only involve Star Wars programs run amok, or abuses of civil rights in a time of war, or poor management of an agency vital to national security. Denial of access to information of all sorts is growing 'at an epidemic rate,' according to Associated Press President and CEO Tom Curley."

The 2004 presidential race was the most expensive in history. While Republicans did outspend Democrats -- $1.14 billion to $1.08 billion -- the difference wasn't that much. "Despite their fundraising success, Democrats simply did not spend their money as effectively as Bush," the Washington Post's Thomas Edsall and James Grimaldi report. "In a $2.2 billion election, two relatively small expenditures by Bush and his allies stand out for their impact: the $546,000 ad buy by Swift Boat Veterans for Truth and the Bush campaign's $3.25 million contract with the firm TargetPoint Consulting. The first portrayed Kerry in unrelentingly negative terms, permanently damaging him, while the second produced dramatic innovations in direct mail and voter technology, enabling Bush to identify and target potential voters with pinpoint precision. Those tactical successes were part of the overall advantage the Bush campaign maintained over Kerry in terms of planning, decision making and strategy. The Kerry campaign, in addition to being outspent at key times, was outorganized and outthought, as Democratic professionals grudgingly admit."

BuzzMetrics, a New York-based specialist in word-of-mouth marketing, is among the companies working to tame the internet by going after "determined detractors," which the New York Times defines as "persistent critics of a company or product that mount their own public relations offensive, often online." According to Paul Rand, managing director at Ketchum Midwest in Chicago, "One determined detractor can do as much damage as 100,000 positive mentions can do good." Detractors, he said, can become "reputation terrorists" who have a personal interest in publicly criticizing a company. "These are the folks we have to track and stay on top of," he said. "To not do so can cost money."