Effect of Robocalls

[Red Knight]

I really have to wonder if the robocalls helped to kill the chances of Tammy Duckworth and Lois Murphy. Murphy was up three points in the polls leading to the election and lost by 3,000 votes.

Dirty tricks work.

[aquart]

1. Just like stealing ten dollars makes you richer by ten dollars.

Of course, if you go to jail for two years and have to pay $10,000 in fines for doing it, the profit doesn't look as good.

Political dirty tricks have to be prohibitively expensive.

[blueinchicago]

2. Exactly

But can we get robocalling outlawed?

And just because we won, does that mean we will rollover and not prosecute the phonecalls. The RNCC was supposed to identify itself upfront on the calls, but made it seeam like Dems were phoning. This is illegal.

[Robbien]

5. Emanuel promised to go after the robocalls

Keep after him to make sure he makes good on his promise.

I plan to keep on him.

[aquart]

8. If it's illegal, then it IS outlawed.

[Warpy]

3. Same thing with the Wilson (R-COW)-Madrid race in NM

Robocalls here masqueraded as the county elections board and told people their polling place had been changed. I saw none this reported by any of the local network stations.

There will probably be arrests, but the damage has been done. Expect the same thing to happen in 2008.

[gulfbreeze]

4. I believe they do.

Even legit ones. I received the same one twice from Bob Graham and it was sort of frustrating as I was working on a project. I also heard from a friend during the previous election that she received so many calls that she decided not to vote for the candidates sending them. Of course I know the calls you're referring to are different.

[PATRICK]

6. For every person

who found out it was the GOP there were others completely ticked off and not voting for the Dems because of those calls. I talked to people before and after and one was thought the call was still from our campaign. The trouble in GOP stacked regions is that we HAD to a lot of phone calling ourselves and that was a lot of stress on a certain segment of the electorate, unfortunately. The robocalls were deliberately left to the end so that there was no time to undo the immediate effects, especially in districts like mine(NY-29). Eric was phone banking right behind me, noting every time he was a live person. He was fuming and rightly so. In a heavy GOP district the dirt also worked to discourage our voters and arouse the feverish prejudices or fears of certain segments. But we came close and that should fuel determination for a repeat with the cheat schemes quashed and Kuhl making everyone miserable for another long two years of nothing.

In one district they went too far too early in lunging for supposed Arcuri scandal that did not exist. they paid most for direct dirt, but less for absurd social security scare ads and the like. I don't know how the Foley thing disappeared so swiftly for Reynolds, with new negative revelations coming out up to the last week, but it seems the same thing. One negative slur works for the GOP unless it locally blows up right in their faces. I think, despite the discouraging results it leaves their margin of victory vulnerable to a fair election AND their support extremely thin for what they stooped to to fool the people in the short term. And in their gerrymandered enclaves the natives are getting restless, with more dissatisfied honest GOPers fed up being serfs for DC appointed princes and the defections on issues, especially when pushed to the wall by DC extremists continues almost daily. This is the opposite intended result of creating these districts because Cheney screwed up and abused the locals for his own purposes entirely.

We didn't have suppression or e-voting or a host of other dangers, just the old fashioned money and outreach barrier. Thanks to Dean and increased party support we drained the GOP stronghold from which this bankroll was supposed to flow to other races, breaking the back of the GOP congressional plan. They have perhaps a temporary Pyrrhic victory only in the now useless GOP minority that falls with Bush into lame status.

In military terms they have entered a siege state status and breaking down these three districts could obliterate the GOP in NY and perhaps the Northeast. Which should make them more amenable for long term redistricting reforms which the Dems will make fairer- if the GOP has anything left by then.

Campaign and election laws have to have teeth. I know no profession likes to make rules and accountability for its own, but this is the most crying need and almost all the people are for an end to the tactics, the money, the fraud and the unfairness.

[LynneSin]

7. They robocalled in PA-06 and Lois Murphy did lose

:cry:

She was ahead in the polls throughout the election

[ZombieNixon]

9. Yeah, they did help kill Tammy.

:cry: The Roskam people just made millions of annoying robocalls with "information about Tammy Duckworth" that just made people annoyed at Tammy. x(

Dear god, fucking Roskam fought dirty. Just goes to show that the Republican line about supporting the troops is total bullshit.

[cnlst8]

10. Robo-calls hurt Kleeb chances in NE.