John Edwards and Fred Thompson addressed CTIA, and if anyone had been expecting them to say anything about technology policy, regulation of wireless, the spectrum auction or anything else of immediate interest to their businesses, they were sorely disappointed.

But the main point Edwards did make in his keynote was that acting out of our own self-interest without thinking about how we're connected to the rest of the world is "absolute nonsense."

He also did talk about technology in general, and the role of wireless, in changing the nature of politics and political campaigns in particular, noting Barack Obama's embrace of text messaging to connect his campaign to individual donors as proof that technology is "democratizing the process."

Edwards and Thompson both bemoaned the fact that the news media has not used technology more effectively to disseminate actual information about the candidates' various policy positions, rather than simply covering the "horse race" aspect of the campaigns.

Soliciting a show of hands from members of the audience, Edwards demonstrated how little most people know about policy positions issued by Senators Clinton, Obama and McCain.

Technology is simply being used to create more gotcha-journalism, he said.

"You can't get away with nothing anymore," Thompson chortled.

Thompson made one wireless policy comment: "If it moves, Congress will want to regulate it; and you're moving," he told the audience.

Thompson got the most laughs, but Edwards seemed to rise above the occasion by reminding the audience that whether wire-line or wireless, global growth has created a world that is more interconnected than ever before.