Google's stock took an early morning hit after the Wall Street Journal reported that the Justice Department may be exploring an "antitrust challenge to Google Inc.'s growing power in advertising." While US lawyers have been deposing witnesses and issuing subpoenas for documents for the last several weeks, the Journal notes this doesn't always mean a case is pending. While Google's ad presence may very well be dominant, their enemy list has also grown immense. While that list includes obvious competitors like Microsoft and other ad outfits, it also includes the nation's largest telecom operators.

Over the last year or two these companies have given Google a crash course in lobbying and policy PR. They've been using every weapon available in their vast PR and lobbying arsenals to attack Google and slow the company's growth -- including corn farmers. Why? Google has been annoying execs in the telecom industry with their support of network neutrality, their involvement in the 700Mhz spectrum auction, and their support of white space spectrum broadband. Google's goal? More competition in the broadband space, and more ad revenue.

While Google may or may not be getting too big for their ad britches, you have to wonder if the DOJ's sudden interest in Google stems from a healthy concern for the ad industry, or from other motivators. Google's acquisition of Doubleclick saw a lot of canned outcry originating from competitor lobbyists last year, with baby bell funded mouthpieces like Scott Cleland testifying before Congress as objective experts about the dangers of Google's growth. Cleland, who is funded by all major telecom operators, can usually be found railing against Google over at his blog at the behest of his clients. He's but one of many policy weapons being aimed at Google.

Meanwhile, the DOJ, who is supposed to remain impartial, has shown they're anything but when it comes to the network neutrality debate. Last fall the agency stunningly issued a press release opposing network neutrality. That release all but mirrored telecom lobbyist talking points. Suddenly, they're investigating one of the wealthiest proponents for network neutrality and AT&T, Comcast and Microsoft's biggest enemy.

Coincidence? Maybe. But it's something to watch.