Robo-Calls May Have Swung FL-13
| Tue Nov. 14, 2006 2:33 PM PST
Florida's 13th congressional district was home to the one of the closest races in the midterms. Election night results put the count at 119,102 for the Republican Vernon Buchanan and 118,729 for the Democrat Christine Jennings. That's a difference of 373 votes -- small enough for a recount, which was launched yesterday.
As TPM reports, "The fight will center around the district's Sarasota County, where the electronic machines did not register a vote in the Congressional race for 18,000 voters." Because 53% of voters in Sarasota County voted for the Democrat, a correct counting of votes would have won the district for Jennings, the Democrat, by about 600 votes.
But, frankly, the lost votes shouldn't matter. The Jennings campaign got broadsided by the Republicans' dirty robo-calling operation late in the race. As previously mentioned, the robo-calls are automated calls made to likely voters that carry information about a local candidate. The GOP ones late in the campaign season were particularly insidious because they were "false-flag" robo-calls, lending the impression that they were from the Democratic candidate instead of the Republican. Because a person who hung up on the call would assume they were from the Democrat, and then get called back six or seven or eight times, the overall effect was possibly thousands of voters furious with the local Democrat. See this quote from the Herald Tribune:
"They bugged us with their phone calls something terrible," said Betty, who voted for Buchanan because "with all her calls, Jennings, Jennings, Jennings, I wouldn't have voted for that woman if she were the only one running."
These things were pretty much unavoidable. TPM has the numbers: In the last three weeks of the election, the Republicans paid almost $60,000 for robo-calls against Jennings, enough for somewhere between 400,000 and 1.2 million calls in the district.
Remember, Daniel Schulman of Mother Jones was the first to this story.
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Comments
It is not surprising, but it is quite disturbing that such tactics were used to swing voters at the last minute. As dirty as the robocalling tactic is, it "worked" by getting the people so annoyed with one candidate that they would just want to vote for their opponent. Had these robocalls been carried out, could the elections have been swung in the other direction.
I shudder to think how this tactic may be used in future elections.
I am sensing that a recount may have to be done, just to be really sure of the final outcome.
I did phone polling in the 13th district for Move.On.org, during a week prior to the election. I'm also from the same district. Of those I polled, they would ask, "Are you a real person?" Once that decided I gave enough human proof that I was indeed human, they explained how they were sick of the annimated phone calls, smear and the inconvience it placed upon them.Some when so far as saying that they were switching their vote, or how the calls influenced their desision to vote Democrat. Other's would state, " Anyone but Buchanan". So I certainly believe that robo calling backfired and had a backlash effect for those I spoke with. Not a scientific study,but it's what I experienced.
Submitted by Bob DAmico (not verified) on Sat Nov. 18, 2006 7:07 AM PST.
Republicans are a filthy and slimy bunch and are dragging all of America down to their level of slime. These swamp rats are with us forever unless the voters demand otherwise or the Pope withdraws Catholic support from the Repub party and that just ain't gonna happen. The Vatican and the repub party are married to each other.
I say that and I am a Catholic, but not that kind. Unless and until the Catholic Church gets out of American politics America continue to be in trouble. We are a deeply divided and fractured country thanks to people like Rupert Murdoch, a Catholic, and Fox News which has many Catholics on their staff. Just use Google and Wikipedia. Catholicism has joined the repub party and now both are vicious groups.
Pray for paeace
Give peace a chance
ONLY DIPLOMACY, NEVER WAR
