Rep. Lamar Smith, SOPA sponsor, sees critics retreat in bid to unseat him

Political action committees and Internet activist groups that sought to unseat Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) over his sponsorship of the Stop Online Piracy Act are going back to the drawing board after failing to muster enough support from voters.

Representatives for anti-Smith PACs such as the Americans for Internet Freedom and Test PAC are regrouping and deciding where they want to focus their energy and fundraising dollars next, now that Smith has secured his party’s nomination for another House term. “We set our goals really, really lofty this time and unfortunately, we were flying a little too close to the sun,” said Andy Posterick, treasurer for Test PAC, which was borne out of the anti-SOPA movement on the social news website Reddit. Supporters of stronger online copyright legislation weren’t surprised that the anti-SOPA efforts fell flat at the voting booth. Many never believed that SOPA would be much of an election year issue. And the Texas GOP primary proved that. Not only is Smith an incumbent in a predominately Republican district, opponents say the size of the Judiciary chairman’s campaign war chest — roughly $1.3 million — easily trumped the money the newly formed PACs raised. That included contributions from PACs for Comcast, the Recording Industry Association of America and Go Daddy, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.