Robo Calls

The latest election trickery appears to be the incredibly annoying robo calls of the GOP.

This year's heavy volume of automated political phone calls has infuriated many voters and triggered sharp complaints from Democrats, who say the Republican Party has crossed the line in bombarding households with recorded attacks on candidates in tight House races nationwide.

Some voters, sick of interrupted dinners and evenings, say they will punish the offending parties by opposing them in today's election. But campaign activists say many voters are uncertain about the calls' source.
Democrats said Monday that GOP operatives intended the messages to confuse voters and help Republicans, a charge the party denies. After citizens' complaints in New Hampshire, however, the National Republican Congressional Committee agreed to end the calls to households on the federal do-not-call list, even though the law exempts political messages from such restrictions.

Just another harsh tactic to GOTV for Republicans. There was a similar furor over GOP-induced phone calls in 2004, but this "robo call" epidemic appears to be widespread. Folks have been "roboed" from New Hampshire to California. But considering how annoying these calls are, will they actually help the GOP? Rove and Co. may have gone a bit too far with this.