By Shaun Dakin, CEO and Founder, The National Political Do Not Contact Registry at www.StopPoliticalCalls.org
Mostly robocalls are pretty boring. Deadly boring; but cheap.
They are routinely nothing but candidates begging you to vote for them. Wives telling you how great their husbands are, or visa versa. Mostly they are banal, boring, trite and unmemorable. There are really very few robocalls that could be categorized as "dirty tricks". There are always reports of calls that tell certain voters to vote on Wednesday vs. Tuesday or to vote in a different polling place. Few of those reports are ever validated.
This one tonight falls into the vague netherworld of the fine art of American political race baiting.
Why?
It is hard to understand, there is no disclosure at the end, and the accent of the caller could be considered that of an African American male. The call was sent into North East Missouri. According to Wikipedia, 86% of the MO population is white. NE MO is probably more white than other places. I don't know.
The Call:
Who - No one knows. - "CJ"
Against - No one knows. It supports State Representative Rebecca McClanahan to advance Obama's agenda on health care and climate change
Caller ID - Adair County Ambulance District
Article in local press is here.
Several calls are being made with the caller ID of the Adair County
Ambulance District. State Rep. Rebecca McClanahan's campaign says it
knows nothing about the phone calls. The campaign of her opponent
Zachary Wyatt denies responsibility for the calls. The Adair County
Ambulance District is not involved and spent hours today talking with
concerned citizens.
Robocall audio is here.
Shaun Dakin is the CEO and Founder of the National Political Do Not Contact Registry located at StopPoliticalCalls.org.
Mr. Dakin has testified at the US Senate and is widely recognized as
one of the leading advocates for voter privacy rights in the United
States. He is the founder, as well, of the global series of un
conferences called PrivacyCamp. He is also the recipient of the 2008 Mashable.com Open Web Award for non profit social media activism. He lives in Falls Church, VA with his family.
While working on voter privacy issues he tweets at @EndTheRoboCallsYou can find his email here.