Morris suggested that because votes taken on Vote.com lead to e-mail messages sent to elected officials, they are binding in some sense--and will be more so as more people visit such sites. Weisberg dismissed these messages as "spam."

Members of the audience seemed largely skeptical of Morris' vision during the question-and-answer period.

One student raised the issue of Internet security and whether web votes would be reliable.

"There are more holes in what Dick Morris is talking about that you can possibly imagine," concurred Michael J. Weissman, a Kennedy School of Government research assistant.

Audience member Cliff Killam, a Boston University undergraduate, expressed discomfort at the lack of nuance in Internet democracy polls and the possibility that complexity would be lost.

The event marked the IOP's first event of the semester--and the first set of speakers introduced by former Sen. David H. Pryor (D-Ark.), who replaced former Sen. Alan K. Simpson (R-Wyo.) as IOP director on Aug. 1.

Morris interrupted Pryor's introduction to point out that he had "stacked the deck" in his debate with Weisberg.

Morris recalled that his "20-year relationship" with President Clinton began when they worked together as co-advisors to Pryor's Senate campaign.