One unanticipated result of robocalls being illegal in Indiana is the case reported by TPM Election Central where dozens of telemarketers in Hobart refused to read an anti-Obama call script even though, by refusing to do so, they sacrificed their pay. They refused to read the script that accused Obama of being “dangerously weak on crime,” of “coddling criminals,” and for voting against “protecting children from danger.”
They must appreciate caller-id as much as I do;-)
I really do not get the robocalls (or even person to person calls)… they just aggravate everyone, so why do it???
Doug, you might tweak the title of this post – it sounds like the topic is a false ad put out by Obama (while I’m sure both parties have done so, that isn’t really what the post is about).
Brenda, there are positive uses for robo-calls. Here I’m thinking of get-out-the-vote calls to a candidate’s contributors and known supporters; by a party to their contributors and those who took their party’s primary ballot, etc. These are also banned. I found out because I was going to purchase such calls, to my supporters and known Libertarian Party backers. These are people who would welcome the call. Alas- One size does not fit all, per usual.
Mike… wouldn’t your supporters, by definition, already know who they are voting for? Why would they welcome a robo-call? On a realated note, I (stupidly) did the “RSVP” for the State Fair Obama visit not realizing I was signing myself up for daily text messages from his campaign. Luckily, I remembered the first one that said I could text back “STOP” to them (which did do the trick). I’m voting for him already… I don’t need updates.
Well, with any candidate, the fear is that people take for granted that you’re going to win, or that you’re going to lose- in any case, that their vote doesn’t matter, or isn’t important enough to warrant getting to the polls. It’s very important to motivate those you know you can count on to complete the deal. It isn’t a matter of them knowing who they’re voting for. It’s a matter of them doing it.
Best example I can think of in recent memory is when Bart Peterson lost his bid for re-election for Indy Mayor. By all rights, he should have won, but the Democrats were uninspired by him, and just didn’t turn out.
Obama has been working hard to remind his supporters that it isn’t over, and that they shouldn’t take it for granted. I bet a dime to a dollar that if the robo-calls were legal in Indiana, he’d have spent the money on them. Hell- he’s spent it in every other way I can think of.