Barton Suspicious

It turns out that the concern over the Google/Yahoo search advertising partnership is bipartisan. Earlier this month, Senator Herb Kohl (D-Wisc) urged caution in a letter to Assistant Attorney General Thomas Barnett.

Now, Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) has written a letter to Barnett expressing his concern. Barton’s beef is with what he feels is Yahoo’s inadequate response to questions regarding the deal.

Barton represents a district that includes Fort Worth as well as suburbs of Dallas. The area is home to many search advertisers. It’s no surprise that Barton is raising concern on their behalf.

Google and Yahoo have tried to assure both the DOJ and advertisers that prices will not go up as a result of the deal, but fears remain. Both companies have said that advertisers set the pricing through the bidding process, but when you’re thinking about bidding for a term on the top 2 search engines, it’s understandable to think that prices will go up – even if Google and Yahoo do not set them higher.

What remains is uncertainty, which is not exactly comforting in a volatile economy.