Careful what you say

National | The Senate votes to crack down on campaign financing, but opponents ask: What happened to free speech? | Tim Graham

Bradley Smith says he's 42, but nobody wants to believe it without looking at a driver's license. Despite his boyish appearance, this soft-spoken Midwestern law professor scared the Washington establishment so much that they held up his appointment to the Federal Election Commission for 14 months.

That's because Mr. Smith promised to be a Washington oddity-a regulator who cherishes freedom. After sitting down last week for a Capitol Hill interview on conservative activist Paul Weyrich's TV show, Mr. Smith stood and paced as he explained to WORLD, "It's easy to lapse into the general attitude that more regulation is the norm, the proper thing to do. But I want to suggest, how about freedom being the norm?"

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