It will also determine the views of Cabinet officials, assistant secretaries, and thousands of mid-level bureaucrats, who together will influence how the new administration approaches and regulates technology. A Bush win would be a delicious feat of one-upmanship for conservatives who have been chafing under eight years of what they view as regulatory enthusiasm.
Firm answers are impossible to come by.
But Washington is already abuzz with speculation about the next president's appointees and how they could influence the future direction federal agencies take. None would abolish any major agencies or introduce radical new regulations. A vibrant technology sector requires a hand-off approach from Washington, and Bush is less inclined to touch. It's true that antitrust is one of the tech areas in which a substantial difference exists between the major party candidates. Gore, during a recent Rolling Stone interview and elsewhere, has reaffirmed his support for antitrust law, and he generally backs the case against Microsoft.