Out of the five Representatives for Oregon in the House, only Rep. Greg Walden of the Second District voted for the bill. Walden represents counties east of the Cascades, all of Jackson and the Grants Pass area of Josephine. Walden is also the only Republican representative from Oregon.

The controversy behind the bill is in the immunity given to telecommunication companies who perform wiretapping and the possible invasion of privacy on domestic citizens. Majority Leader Senator Harry Reid has said that he would like to have two votes on the bill, separating the immunity into its own vote. Presumptive Democratic nominee Barack Obama has come out for this compromise, stating, "Under this compromise legislation, an important tool in the fight against terrorism will continue, but the President's illegal program of warrantless surveillance will be over."

Obama also supports Senator Reid's position on removing the immunity from the overall bill. But some Senators are standing up against the bill. Oregon Senator Ron Wyden has announced that he will vote against cloture. Wyden released in a statement today, "This is not the first time that the President has pressured Congress into interfering in federal court cases to cover-up his attempts to secretly rewrite the law.  Congress's previous attempts to bail out the President -- from the Detainee Treatment Act to the Military Commissions Act -- have not only failed to solve the legal mess, but have often provided cover for the Administration's failed counterterrorism policies."

Senator Russ Feingold has announced that he plans to filibuster the bill, saying on "Democracy Now!", "We are going to resist this bill. We are going to make sure that the procedural votes are gone through. In other words, a filibuster is requiring 60 votes to proceed to the bill, 60 votes to get cloture on the legislation. We will also -- Senator Dodd and I and others will be taking some time to talk about this on the floor. We're not just going to let it be rubberstamped."

Many argue that the Bush administration performed wiretaps that were already against the law. The amendments contain an "exclusivity provision" that is supposed to prevent a president from abusing power. At DailyKos, one blogger says,  "But is there really a way to write a law in a way that prevents someone from ignoring it? Of course not. If you ignore the law, you ignore the provisions preventing you from ignoring it. That, it turns out, is actually what 'ignoring' means. "

This comment has been echoed in many blogs across the progressive blogosphere. Some are dismayed with their recent nominee's stance, saying that Senator Obama should have taken a stand against the bill altogether.

There was a strong grassroots effort on the Democrat side to thwart the bill. The Democrats argue that the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution is in jeopardy, while the Republicans argue that in order to keep the country safe companies should not be pushed for following a presidential order in the name of national security. Both sides are heated on this issue.

The sport of politics in the blogosphere seems to be picking up the pace for the general election. Nothing highlights this more than a post by Moe Lane, "I would like to offer these words of comfort. When you look back on your quest to fight this bill, I want you to appreciate the amazing amount of work that you spent on the issue. You called. You networked. You wrote letters and blog posts. You contributed to opposition groups. You reached out, and found people just like you, and you banded together to fight. And you kept going, and calling, and struggling, and you put your time, your money, and every atom of your being on the line. For some of you, this was your finest moment. You fought for this. You fought so hard for this. Oddly enough, I didn't do any of that, but I won anyway. That's because you suck, and I don't. "

As it stands now, the "sunset provision," or when this bill will automatically be repealed, is in 2012. Regardless of the Party, this will be something that politicians from both sides will be answering to in the next election cycles.