What do craigslist, Amazon.com and Skype have in common with AARP and the Christian Coalition of America?

They held a joint press conference by phone in support of network neutrality, which is being debated this week in the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee. Last week's hearing, with 214 amendments to the sweeping telecom reform bill, got out of control quickly and was stopped after about two hours.

The Christian Coalition says it favors network neutrality because its 50 state leaders have to host their own Web sites, and if they end up having to settle for a cheaper slow lane to serve up their pages, the organization will have trouble getting its message out.

Meanwhile, an alternative has been suggested by the Center for Democracy and Technology that would draw a line between the network and the Internet, allowing telecom providers to "experiment with non-neutral arrangements" on their networks while preserving the openness of the Internet for the public.

Update: More sparks are expected to fly when the hearing resumes Wednesday at 7 a.m. Pacific time. A Webcast is available here.