Where (Online) Poker Currently Stands in Washington DC / America

As many of you probably know, one of President Barack Obama\’s first acts even before assuming office was creating a National Suggestion Box. And though I am concerned that they\’ve already forgotten about it (they haven\’t yet changed the header at Change.gov from \”President-Elect\” to \”President\”), an issue that\’s jumped way up to the top of the list is repeal of the UIGEA. Though I\’m not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing, the only folks who seem more motivated are the pot smokers.

Anyhow, you can see all the poker related posts at Change.gov via an on-site search for poker or UIGEA. Or just click \”most popular\” — where they\’ve assigned a point system to all the ideas in America and poker has cracked the top 10. The list of issues attracting the squeakiest wheels, in order (with the number of comments in parentheses):

1. Ending Marijuana Prohibition (3,550)
2. Commit to becoming the \”Greenest\” country in the world (199)
3. Stop using federal resources to undermine states\’ medicinal marijuana laws (17)
4. An end to the government sponsored abstinence education to be replaced by an introduction of age appropriate sex education. (158)
5. Bullet Trains & Light Rail (434)
6. The permanent closure of all Torture facilities. (Facilities such as: Guantanamo, and Abu Ghraib) (119)
7. Revoke the George W. Bush tax cuts for the top 1 % (119)
8. Get the Insurance Companies out the Health Care (362)
9. Revoke the Tax Exempt Status of the Church of Scientology (545)
10. Bring Back the Constitution! (243)
11. Boost America\’s Economy with Legal Online Poker (1,713)

UPDATE: We dropped off the front page, from #9 to #11, in the course of my writing this post. I\’d say \”damn Constitution!\”, but that probably wouldn\’t help our cause. You can still vote — here\’s a link to page 2 of the list, though hopefully it will become an irrelevant link by Monday morn.