The telecommunications industry employs hundreds of thousands of people. It does so not just in California and New York, but in every state. And it creates the kind of middle class jobs states are desperate for. A unionized Verizon field tech can make six figures (with overtime), has generous benefits, and can get the job without a college degree. How many jobs do Google or Facebook create in Tennessee? How many blue collar six figure jobs do Google or Facebook create?

If you're a telco, you can walk into the office of a politician in Alabama and say: "Hey, we employ 5,000 people in your state. Google employs 100. Why the hell would you support legislation that allows Google to make money this way but bans us from doing it?"

(This is, incidentally, why the conventional wisdom about money ruling politics is bunk. Tech is one of the richest industries that exists. But it's relatively politically ineffectual because it employs so few people, and it does so primarily in a handful of rich, coastal states.

A professor of mine once pointed out to me that in the environmental area, it's the environmental groups that need to do lobbying. The power company can just call up a Congress-critter and remind them of the thousands of jobs in their district that are tied to that company's well-being.)