For a little while last night and this morning, I thought that the Net neutrality issue was going to to be the big post-Election Day news, featured prominently in the analysis of how a Democrat-controlled House of Representatives could affect the potential for Net neutrality legislation.

As it turns out, Donald Rumsfeld upstaged that storyline with his resignation, and while telecom aftershocks of the election's outcome may seem less significant by comparison, we shouldn't overlook them completely.

There had been some misunderstanding in recent months in the telecom industry that the Net neutrality issue was just going to dissipate like the morning mist. In reporting from the TelcoTV conference and expo this week in Dallas, it became clear to me that Net neutrality is not only not a dead issue, but real, live issue affecting all kinds of content distribution models.

With Net neutrality proponents such as John Dingell (D-Mich.) and Barney Frank (D-Mass.) expected to now play leadership roles in the House Energy and Commerce Committee and the House Financial Services Committee, respectively, the issue is again on the table in Washington, D.C., as well.