The government shutdown is turning into a major denial of service for journalists and other citizens interested in tracking the influence of big money on politics. Not only is it preventing scrutiny of campaign finance records -- potentially leaving voters in at least one Louisiana special election with NO information on donors before they head to the polls -- it's also making it next to impossible to provide up-to-date information on political ad buys. The shuttering of the Federal Communications Commission's website has severely hamstrung Political Ad Sleuth, a tool that the Sunlight Foundation and Free Press developed last year to track those buys at hundreds of TV stations across the country. And there are plenty of them -- some of them attempt to capitalize on the shutdown itself.