[imgbelt img=Elk_Mountain_Christopherson-300×0.jpg]One of the losers in the latest Congressional elections was net neutrality, according to a writer at the University of Southern California school of journalism.Among those rural Democrats who lost was Rep. Rick Boucher, a Virginian who had championed broadband expansion into rural areas and net neutrality. “Under the leadership of Boucher, members of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee attempted to fulfill President Barack Obama’s campaign promise for a free Internet,” wrote Jacob Chung. “In recent action, the committee went as far as to sign a pledge showing their commitment to the fight.” Now the debate has been delayed, lost in worry over the deficit and the economy.• One in five Californians say they would never vote for a Republican. Ever. • Brownfield predicts that the Humane Society is headed to Nebraska, perhaps to try to generate a ballot initiative on animal welfare. But which animals? HSUS has been interested in egg-laying hens and swine, and Nebraska is a cattle state.• A group supporting the USDA’s proposed rules governing livestock markets made a pitch this week to congressional office staffers. The group, calling itself the Competition Coalition, brought local producers to D.C. to tell about how livestock markets are working in rural America. • Good story in NewWest.Net about the election for mayor in Elk Mountain, Wyoming. hIt seems the contest for mayor wound up in a tie, and that meant the election would be settled by a coin flip. Well, it was a tie (51 to 51) until election officials found that one voter did not live within the city limits, so that voided the election. There will be a revote next Tuesday.It’s become a bitter fight between Mayor Rick Christopherson (above), a relative newcomer (who arrived in Elk Mountain 20 years ago) and Morgan Irene. Discontent with incumbents and with government in general is rampant and this is the mood that has split Elk Mountain. Shauna Stephenson writes:In the end, this election seems not so much a division between ideas, as neither candidate has a detailed agenda. Rather, it seems a division among clans. It’s age-old questions all civilized communities have faced: Who belongs versus who doesn’t? Who has the power versus who wants it, and who wants it versus who deserves it?