eszter hargittai sends word that felon disenfranchisement arose in last night’s episode of the west wing. evidently the Democratic candidate’s partner supports expansion of voting rights. i’d love to see how they handled the issue on primetime. not so long ago, i remember a crowded presidential debate in which none of the actual candidates seemed to have even a nodding familiarity with the issue.

i haven’t watched the west wing in years, but noticed that one of the actors is named bradley whitford. i take it this is not aerosmith’s second guitarist brad whitford (poor dude, i’m sure joe perry has gotten all the play for 35 years). i wouldn’t ask, but i know that the genuine little steven/miami steve van zant has morphed into silvio on the sopranos and an absolutely smokin’ syndicated deejay. one can’t be sure, but i’d guess that the writer of freedom — no compromise would support the expansion of voting rights too.