Cross posted at my blog.

OK.  The summer vacation is coming to an end.   The endless campaign of tit for tat is, hopefully, sinking under its own weight of nothingness.   The conventions (which will be full of nothing but hot air) are coming up and then the general election will get going in earnest.   And that is when the calling is going to start, and not stop until election day.  

Good thing for millions of voters that McCain invented the Federal Do Not Call Registry!  That means his campaign will agree not to call those voters on the Registry, right?  I doubt it.  But we'll see.  Pigs do fly.

Could this become Gore's "I invented the Internet"! gaff of the 2008 election (btw, Gore never really said that, but who cares, that is what the media narrative said he said in the 2000 election, so IT MUST BE TRUE !)  More than likely, this will fit into the "McCain can't use a computer or email or the internet" narrative.  

Cross posted on the National Political Do Not Contact RegistryBlog.

This is the first time that I've heard of robo calls try to scare (click here to hear the audio) people into voting.   A "dirty trick" robo call in the Georgia primary this past week was used to, get this, scare people into voting.

   

Hundreds of Banks and Jackson County citizens were startled Tuesday afternoon when they received telephone calls warning that they would be taken off of the voter rolls if they didn't vote in Tuesday's primary runoff.

Very weird.

If a campaign is going to use robo calls without identifying who paid for the call typically this is done with the intent of suppressing the vote of those citizens that you think are most likely to vote for your opposition.

That makes sense.   Not ethical.  But in politics very little is ethical.

As I posted on this site last week, Kucinich was making illegal robo calls in the State of California.

Kucinich was making 100's of thousands of fund raising robo calls in the state of California without understanding that the State has existing robo call code that effectively makes all robo calls illegal.

Now, the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Kucinich's home town paper reports that his operations have stopped robo calls in the state of California.

The California Public Utilities Commission has a law in California that clearly states that ALL robo calls are illegal, UNLESS they are introduced by a live person.  We have received thousands of complaints from California citizens about receiving these illegal robo calls.

It is there, clearly, in the California Public Utilities Code sections 2871-2876.

Cross posted at StopPoliticalCalls.org

UPDATE:  Cleveland Plain Dealer did a story today on this.

Dennis Kucinich, the ex-Mayor of Cleveland and current Member of Congress, is desperate to get the American people to support his call to have hearings on possible impeachment of President GW Bush.

While he can use virtually any communication tool he wishes to use - direct mail, press, tv, internet, email, etc.. - he may want to hold off on continuing to make robo calls in California.  The fine is $500 per incident.

Today, StopPoliticalCalls.org, received 100's of official complaints from our members about robo calls that Kucinich is making into the state of CA urging them to support his call for hearings on impeachment.

Cross posted on the CA Progress Report

As someone who has been focused on the harm that robo calls—those pre-recorded phone messages-- have on all Americans, I was perplexed when I learned that under the existing California Public Utilities Code political robo calls are illegal.

The group that I run, The National Political Do Not Contact Registry (NPDNC), the nation’s only political do not call advocacy group, is demanding today that the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) enforce the current law, sections 2871-2876 of the Public Utilities Code. The law requires that most automated calls be introduced by a live person, which almost never happens, but the California PUC has not enforced it. With the support of California voters who are willing to make an official complaint to the CPUC, the NPDNC hopes to be able to shut down robocalls in California in time for this November’s election.

"You couldn’t pick a worse, non-imprisoned C.E.O. to be your standard-bearer."

We all know that McCain is not comfortable with economic issues, theory, or, heck, much about anything that has to do with jobs and business.   He said it himself.

That is why I've been dumbfounded over the past three to four months as I've watched disgraced HP CEO Carly Fiorina become his surrogate for economic policy and business issues.

If you don't remember, Carly was a super star CEO at HP.  She was on the cover of every major business magazine.  And she was a disaster for HP.

Forced out by the board three years ago, she is now desperate to revive her image (she doesn't need $$ as, of course, she got some outrageous amount of severance and "bonus" for running HP into the ground) and her career.

According to the PEW centers, Robocalls are now the top form of campaign outreach.

As Congress considers a proposal to put restrictions on pre-recorded campaign calls, or "robo-calls," the frequency of such calls is increasing. Overall, 39% of voters say they have received a pre-recorded call about the campaign, up from 25% in November.

So, The National Political Do Not Contact Registry, a non-profit group working to reduce unwanted robo calls, has put together the latest and greatest bi-partisan robo call hall of fame (or shame).

Cross posted at my blog at StopPoliticalCalls.org.

Got your attention.  This is NOT real, yet.

This week I attended an event at the New Politics Institute and was lucky enough to ask Joe Trippi a question about the outsourcing of American politics to technology, especially robo calls.   He said that he agreed and that he hated them.

After his talk I had a chance to talk about the robo call issue with Simon Rosenberg, the head of the New Democratic Network, and he mentioned that he was concerned that the GOP was going to play the race card this Fall.   John McCain won't, himself, but the unafiliated groups, 527's, will.   They are outside most regulation and can raise unlimited amounts of money from undocumented sources.

As I posted last week on the DailyKos, the National Right To Life organization made illegal robocalls into Indiana.

The local IN NBC affiliate has now done a story on this.

This was the story from Ben Smith at the Politico.

The call attacks him for promising to sign federal legislation that would make it harder for states to impede abortion, and for voting against a (complicated) bill in the state legislature that would have more heavily regulated late-term abortions to the end of saving, the call says, "the lives of babies who survivedI late term abortions."

  Former Indiana Rep. Tim Roemer, a pro-life Obama backer, said the group is playing politics.

  "National Right to Life is running these calls because they know that Senator Clinton will be the easier Democrat to run against in the general election—and this is their way of giving her a helping hand in this tough primary battle," he said in the emailed statement.

As I posted on my blog last week, robo calls in Indiana are illegal.  No question about it.  Both commercial and political robo calls are illegal and the AG will go after anyone who does it.

I wondered if one of the campaigns would make a mistake and get caught as AG Steve Carter fully prosecutes robo calling cases to the fullest extent of the law.

I would not mess with AG Carter.

Now it looks as if someone hasn't received accurate legal advice and will pay for it.  The National Right To Life is robocalling into Indiana against Obama.

What is not clear, however, is if this is a robo call that went into Indiana (the audio is very poor and there does not seem to be a date and time stamp on the call).

Many people do not know that Indiana has one of the strictest robo call laws in the USA.   Essentially no one can use an "autodialer" to make a phone call to a resident of Indiana.

Full Stop.

Indiana’s "Automatic Dialing Machine" statute [IC 24-5-14-5] specifically states:

Sec. 5. (b) A caller may not use or connect to a telephone line an automatic dialing-announcing device unless:

(1) the subscriber has knowingly or voluntarily requested, consented to, permitted, or authorized receipt of the message; or
(2) the message is immediately preceded by a live operator who obtains the subscriber's consent before the message is delivered.

Having money is a good thing.  Having too much money may not be the best thing.

Is it possible that Obama has too much money that his team is not being smart about using it effectively?

Having too much money does funny things to people, companies and campaigns.

Remember the good "old" days of the 90's with the dot com's?

They had tons of investor money and they threw it away on super bowl commercials that did not bring the results that they needed to actually make money.

Ever read about someone that won the lottery and did not have their family go into a dysfunctional tailspin?

The National Political Do Not Contact Registry has over 50,000 voters that are sick and tired of having their privacy invaded by political robo calls.

The Congresswomen is being targeted according to this article by the NRCC this year.

This may help her retain her seat.  What are your thoughts?

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Nancy Boyda (Kansas Second District) today announced her pledge not to conduct "robo" calls to voters in her district who have registered their phone number with the  National Political Do Not Contact (NPDNC) registry at StopPoliticalCalls.org.  Congresswoman Boyda is the second Member of Congress to take the "Do Not Robo Call" pledge since the non-profit Citizens for Civil Discourse launched the list last October.

"The foundation of our democracy is the belief that voters should be in control," Congresswoman Boyda said.  "Voters choose our president, voters choose our Congress, and voters should be able to choose not to receive political 'robo' calls."

"We are extremely pleased that Representative Boyda has agreed not to robocall constituents that sign up on the National Political Do Not Contact Registry," said Shaun Dakin, founder and CEO.

Let me state at the outset that I respect and admire Obama.   He has done the impossible in just 13 months and is running an admirable campaign.

So, the question is, does Obama have too much money that he is spending it on campaign tactics that may not be working?

Why did he lose in Texas, Ohio and Rhode Island.

I have a hypothesis that during the run up to Tuesday he spent so much money on tactics that he overwhelmed the voters and they may have turned against him in frustration. In particular, phone calls and robo calls.  

While I do not have specific data on how much he spent on phones, there is ample evidence that Obama used his fundraising success to, according to the Times, "attempt a knockout blow".

Indeed, according to the New York Times 3.2.2008:

Mr. Obama, campaign officials said, has spent about $10 million on television advertising in Texas since early February; Mrs. Clinton has spent just less than $5 million. Mr. Obama has spent about $5.3 million for television advertising in Ohio, compared with just under $3 million for Mrs. Clinton, the officials said.

Dear John,  (A similar letter was written to Obama yesterday)

I respect you greatly.   I admire you immensely.  Your time spent in Vietnam as a prisoner of war is nothing but inspiring for your fellow Americans.

So I write this to you as someone that has great admiration for what you have accomplished in this election and as someone that believes that you can bring about change to America.

But....

Your campaign tactics and actions do not show me evidence that you are in fact the candidate of change and straight talk.

Like Romney and Huckabee you:

- Spam supporters with email that they haven't asked for

and... you invade the privacy of voters across the nation by continuing to use a tactic that most voters agree has outlived their usefulness:

Robo calls or automated dialer political calls made by a computer.

Members of StopPoliticalCalls.org are sick and tired of robo calls from all candidates.   Members continue to report that they are receiving robo calls from you.

Will you stop?

Dear Barack,

I respect you greatly.   I admire you immensely.  You have accomplished something that most Americans have not witnessed in a generation:  Giving us all hope, inspiration, and the ability to believe in America and ourselves.

So I write this to you as someone that has great admiration for what you have accomplished in this election and as someone that believes that you can bring about change to America.

But....

Your campaign tactics and actions do not show me evidence that you are in fact the candidate of change.  Real change.

Like Hillary and McCain you:

- Spam supporters with email that they haven't asked for

and... you invade the privacy of voters across the nation by continuing to use a tactic that most voters agree has outlived their usefulness:

Robo calls or automated dialer political calls made by a computer.

Members of StopPoliticalCalls.org are sick and tired of robo calls from all candidates.   Members continue to report that they are receiving robo calls from you.

Will you stop?

Washington, DC - Shaun Dakin, CEO The National Political Do Not Contact Registry - StopPoliticalCalls.org

With all the news about Push Polls, Push Polling, Huckabee and Common Sense Issues, I decided to find out what a push poll actually sounds like.

Here are two recordings I've been able to find on the internet:

   * Here is a YouTube video of someone completing a Push Poll
   * Here is an audio file of someone completing a Push Poll

Enjoy.

And, let me know if you received a push poll, what you thought about it, and who it was from.

There has been a lot of talk this cycle about "change" and who is the real change agent.  Take a good look at all the major candidates and let's see if there is any indication that they will, in fact, be a different type of politician because they decided to campaign in a different (change) type of way?

Obama hopes for change.
Hillary works for change, from the inside.
McCain tells us that Change is hard, but good for us.
Romney tells us that change today is what he is for, as well as the new change that he polled this past evening.
Edwards has two Changes in America.

What about changing HOW you campaign?  

The bottom line?