The National Political Do Not Contact Registry - Stop Political Calls BLOG

Audio - More Scott Brown for US Senate Robocalls #MASEN

Audio - 2 More Scott Brown for US Senate Robocalls #MASEN

They keep coming.

Here is more Scott Brown robocalls from a voter in MA today.

Did you get one?

Winner: Mashable.com Open Web Award 2008

scott brown robo call # 3 on 1-15-10.wav

17 RoboCalls in 24 Hours from Scott Brown to one voter

This is a record, I think. 

A voter in MA received 17 robocalls from Scott Brown in 24 hours!

Twitter - Here's a message for Scott Brown: one more robo call from you or your team and I will vote for coakley. 17 calls today is enough. #MASEN

Anyone else?

(IN) Attorney General (IN) Gets Political Parties in Indiana to Agree Not To Robocall in 2010

It is rare to see elected officials come together to do the right thing.    In Indiana, they have.

Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller negotiated an agreement with the political parties to from robocalling voters this year.

This is particularly interesting as both state political parties brought a law suit against the state of IN to try to overturn the existing state ban on all robocalls.   The IN supreme court ruled in favor of the AG last year, but declined to rule on the legality of the ban since the parties involved settled.

Zoeller promised he will actively pursue organizations that violate Indiana's auto-dialing law.

"We will be filing lawsuits against any 527 that comes in and does robocalling to people in Indiana," Zoeller said.

Here is a link to a full article about this development:

Parties agree to robocall ban.

Here is the local TV report:

Arkansas > Audio: US Senate Candiate Baker’s RoboCall in Response to TV Attack Ad

Robocalls are illegal in Arkansas.  I guess US Senate Candidate Baker did not get the memo.   Here is a post with a copy of the offending robocall audio:

• Audio: Baker’s RoboCall in Responce to TV Attack Ad | The Tolbert Report.

Here is a great map of all robocall state laws.  Just click on Arkansas to learn what the specific state law is.

• Arkansas
• • Automated calls used "for soliciting information, gathering data, or for any other purpose in connection with a political campaign" are illegal and violators may be subject to civil or criminal penalties.
  • Pertinent sections of state laws:
  • A.C.A. § 5-63-204(a)(1) (2009).

Here is the transcript of the robocall:

Hello, this is state Sen. Gilbert Baker and I am running for the United States Senate. For the last several days, a front group for national labor unions has been running TV ads smearing my conservative record in the Arkansas Senate. A reporter this past weekend wrote these ads are absurd and laughable.

You know these liberal union groups are fighting dirty and they should be ashamed. Let me set the record straight. I have a proven record of being a fiscal conservative; whether cutting taxes on your groceries or balancing your budget, I have been at the forefront of implementing conservative common sense measures.

I hope you will disavow these negative ads and join me as we beat Sen. Lincoln in the fall. Please visit my website at www.SenatorGilbertBaker.com. My wife Susan and I would like to wish you and your family very Merry Christmas. Thank you.

AARP Robocalling Georgia Urging Voters to Call Senators To Vote Yes On HealthCare Reform

I've been watching Twitter today and while most robocall tweets have been about CREW's ethics complaint about Sen John McCain making Health Care robocalls with GOP funds, there have been a few from a twitter account in Georgia.

Specifically from this account.

Here are the Actual tweets:

1. AARP is doing robo calls on #hcr and providing senator name and number to call. I've received THREE calls in the past hour!
2. @EndTheRoboCalls GA. I erased the message. it was a #hcr message w/ my senator name & # to call him and urge a yes vote for #hcr.
3. @EndTheRoboCalls the caller id#'s are 866-227-7449 and 866-542-8170

If anyone else received this robocall from AARP, please let me know.  I'm particularly interested in getting the audio file or transcript.

Really Don't Know What To Say, Town in MA uses Robocalls to Advertise for a Play?

Shaun Dakin, CEO and Founder of the National Political Do Not Contact Registry at StopPoliticalCalls.org

Yeap, you heard it here.  First? 

Tom Champion, director of communications for the City of Somerville, MA is using robocalls to advertise for a town play?  Click here to listen to the audio file.

First I've heard of it.   Very weird.  Very much NOT the reason for towns to use robocalls.

Here are some good examples around why a politician / town government would want to use robocalls:

1. To get out the word on Flu clinics?  YES
2. To get out the word that election day is coming in 4 days?  Yeap
3. To get out the word that a school is in lockdown because of a shooting incident.  Yeap
4. To get out the word that there is a play in town?  Not really...

I guess politicians will use anything to connect with voters.

Bloomberg Takes Robocalling To A New Level; 75 different Robocalls to almost 900k New Yorkers

While robocalls are mostly useless by most politicians, Bloomberg, spending $85 million, may be the most sophisticated target marketing politician in history.

According to this AP article, Bloomberg's campaign will send out 75 different types of robocalls this week to almost 900,000 voters in the New York City area.

Now, while I wish that the Mayor would send out NO robocalls (or at least give voters the option to opt out of receiving them) the news that his campaign operation is spending the time and money to micro target 75 different types of robocall messages is GOOD NEWS.

What?  Robocalls good news?  What could you be thinking Shaun?  You HATE robocalls!

Well, yes and no.

The biggest problem with most robocalls are that they are done at the last minute by campaigns throwing everything, including the sink, to see what will stick with the voters.

There is usually no strategy.  No coordination with other communication channels (direct mail, volunteer phone calls, etc...).  Nothing but spray and pray communications.

Usually this does one thing, really well.

Piss off voters.  In droves.

But, here comes the news that Bloomberg is using technology and databases to deliver messages to the right person at the right time.

Better than no robocalls?  Probably not.  Better than the usual spray and prey?

You bet.

Here is the story (BOLD MINE):

NEW YORK - Mayor Michael Bloomberg has spent millions of dollars to get inside the head of every New York City voter, hundreds of thousands of whom will get pre-recorded "robocalls" narrowly targeted to appeal to their tastes and urging them to get out and vote.

Chinatown residents older than 45, for example, could get a call that is two-thirds Chinese and one-third English. Younger voters would hear more English with a bit of Chinese. Caribbean-American voters could get calls in English, but with a Caribbean lilt.

Those who live in large apartment complexes might hear a recording of their building manager or a well-known resident. New Yorkers who live in liberal, politically active neighborhoods like Brooklyn's Park Slope could get a call from the leader of Planned Parenthood or another group that advocates for a Democratic issue.

It is one of the highly meticulous ways that the Bloomberg operation is using its extensive voter database to contact New Yorkers before the Nov. 3 election, and part of why the billionaire mayor has already managed to spend $85.2 million on his campaign.

Automated calls to get out the vote are nothing new in political campaigns, but the Bloomberg campaign's specificity is rarely seen at the local level. Campaign officials estimate they will have 75 calls reaching 890,000 people.

Most campaigns "would do between five and 10 calls," says veteran Democratic strategist George Arzt.

"Everything in the mayor's campaign is done to excess," he said. "You will never have another campaign like this."

Bloomberg is not a member of any party but is running on the GOP and Independence Party lines.

"We are thinking really, really local," said campaign manager Bradley Tusk. "We try to make it really relevant to every single community."

Campaigns typically record automated calls using the candidate's voice or a celebrity endorser. The mayor's opponent, Democrat William Thompson Jr., is using that method; he plans about 10 versions of calls.

Bloomberg is using big names, too - former Mayor Ed Koch among them. But the mayor's campaign sees more value on using people who have local appeal. The Chinatown calls are being recorded by Justin Yu, the president of the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association, who is known as the "mayor of Chinatown."

"We try to talk to voters not only in their language, but also through validators that they really care about," said Maura Keaney, who runs field operations for the Bloomberg campaign.

And how do they know what matters to each voter? Using an approach known as microtargeting, the Bloomberg campaign collects comprehensive information about voters and uses that to build profiles to predict what messages might appeal to them.

Microtargeting involves gathering bits of information like whether voters own a home or have children in college, what kind of car they drive, income and educational background, what kind of computers they use, what they watch on television, which magazines they read, and whom they supported in past elections.

That information is then supplemented by data gathered from conversations with voters during phone calls and door-to-door canvasses. All the pieces create pictures of every person that are used to predict appealing messages in mailings and other ads, plus what it will take to get each to come out and vote.

As of Oct. 13, Bloomberg campaign canvassers had knocked on 1 million doors. The campaign predicts a low turnout of some 1.4 million voters on Nov. 3, out of more than 4.5 million registered voters.

Microtargeting is common in presidential and gubernatorial elections but is not seen in municipal races, according to Alex Gage, founder of TargetPoint Consulting, which is credited with its pioneering use of the tactic to help President George W. Bush win re-election in 2004.

Barack Obama expanded on the concept in 2008 to broaden his electorate, identifying millions of unregistered voters and motivating them with targeted messages.

Bloomberg enlisted Doug Schoen, an adviser to former President Bill Clinton, to build his database in 2001 and 2005, spending more than $10 million on the effort in 2005.

This year the mayor hired Ken Strasma, who was Obama's national targeting director in 2008, to take over the work for his third-term campaign. Bloomberg has spent more than $2.3 million refining and adding to his database this year.

Thompson relies on the Voter Activation Network, which uses information provided by the Democratic National Committee to create a national voter database. State parties can then give local candidates access to the information, founder Mark Sullivan said.

Philly Politician Makes Actual Personal Live Phone Calls. NO Robocalls

Race for controller heats up | Philadelphia Daily News | 10/19/2009.

This is the best story of the week, a politician running for City Controller in Philadelphia is actually personally calling 200 voters a day rather than robocalls!

It's common these days to get recorded phone calls from political candidates. But when Republican City Controller candidate Al Schmidt calls you, it's him - live.

"I personally call registered voters; my goal is 200 a day," Schmidt said. "I'm surprised - I get a better reception [calling] than going door-to-door. It doesn't seem as intrusive."

With just two weeks to go in an off-year election in a city where Democrats outnumber Republicans seven to one, Schmidt is plotting an unorthodox course in his campaign, attending Democratic ward meetings and criticizing leaders of his own party.

This is interesting.  Virginia Foxx (R-NC) often talks about how she doesn't make any calls, personal or robo, because of the following story.  In the 70's she was running for office and was able to make live calls and have actual conversations.  About 4 years ago, as she was running for Federal office, she started making personal live calls and people would hang up on her not believing that she was actually on the line.

Good for Virginia and good for Al!

Reports that OFA (Obama) Making Robocalls On Behalf of Deeds In Virginia Governor Race

By Shaun Dakin, CEO of Citizens for Civil Discourse and the National Political Do Not Contact Registry.  Learn more at StopPoliticalCalls.org

Reports coming in this afternoon that Robocalls are hitting voters in Virgina and elsewhere by Mitch Stewart, the head of Organizing for America (Obama's Political Action Group).

Here are the tweets so far:

• Just got robocall from Mitch Stewart with DNC, asking me to help canvass for Creigh Deeds in Virginia. Tweet link here.
  
• Just got a robocall from Mitch Stewart and OFA asking me to gotv/phonebank for Creigh Deeds. I live in Pennsylvania. Tweet link here.
• Me too. RT @mikemadden: Just got robocall from Mitch Stewart with DNC, asking me to help canvass for Creigh Deeds in Virginia. Tweet link here.
• Organizing 4 America is doing robocalls for GOTV for Deeds in VA. Just got a call from mitch stewart asking me to knock & phone bank. Tweet link here.
• ....did I really just get a robocall to my cell phone from Mitch Stewart about the Virginia Governor race? Ugh.... Tweet link here.
• just got my first robocall from the Obama campaign.  Tweet link here.
• @mikemadden I just got the OFA robocall too. On my cell. How'd they get that number? (I'm looking at you, @billburton44) Tweet link here.
• Mitch Stewart just robo-called asking me to phone bank or volunteer for Creigh Deeds. Call paid for by DNC. Tweet link here.
  

Comments:

1. This is the first time that the "White House" has entered the Virginia Governor's race via robocall.  There were reports of OFA sending emails to the VA Obama email list in the past week.  I did not recieve one.
2. This is the second robocall paid for by a national group on behalf of Deeds.  I reported on the DNC making robos last week here. (Audio available)
3. Robos to cell phones:  Interesting that the robocalls reported are going to many people's cell phones as well as specific reporters.  I guess that is a way to get it covered?
   

If you have the audio, let me know.

UPDATE:

Sam Stein, of the Huffington Post, has a post about this here.

PA General Assemby Introduces Bill to Regulate Political Robocalls (H 1877)

The Pennsylvania General Assembly.

Click the link above for good news.

Rep McGeehan has introduced HB 1877 to regulate political robo calls in Pennsylvania.

If you live in PA, please be sure to thank him.  You can contact him at his homepage located here.

Will it pass?   Probably not.  But it is great to have Rep. McGeehan interested and working on behalf of the voters, rather than political parties.