Why state attorneys general are suddenly suing everybody.

In the case of Microsoft, Blumenthal of Connecticut appears to have won the coveted prize, managing to eclipse Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller, who is chairman of the NAAG's antitrust committee, and New York's Vacco, who heads the consumer committee. Blumenthal's face has been everywhere in the last week, and he is clearly enjoying his moment in the limelight, building valuable name recognition for the day when he decides whether to run for governor or senator. Others may pause to wonder why Connecticut--and 19 other states--needs an antitrust policy separate from that of the United States. The question whether regulation of commerce is a state or national affair was supposed to have been settled in 1789.