Repubs Calling Skype VOIP users!

[StraightDope]

I haven't had a landline for a number of years. With cellphones just as cheap, or cheaper, who needs one? Thus, I'm spared the endless barrage of telemarketing, pollsters, and political entreaties. Or, at least I thought I was until about 5 minutes ago.

I use Skype, because it's cheap, reliable, and convenient when I need to talk to a friend who lives far away. I have friends who live in Japan, South Korea, Czech Republic, etc. I couldn't afford to keep in touch in any other way, aside from e-mail, but what fun is that? Anyway, I leave Skype running in the background most of the time. I had just gotten back from the store, and when I walked in, I heard a phone ringing. I thought, "How odd! I have no phone..." and then I realized that it was Skype. I answered, and a user with the name "Anonymous-853" connected, and said, "Hello, sir! Are you registered to vote?"

I replied in the affirmative, to which he said, "Have you voted yet?"

"No."

"Well then, I just thought that you should be aware of where the Democrats stand on a number of important issues." Thinking that this was a fellow Dem, I decided to see how well he could explain Democratic positions, and offer some pointers so that his GOTV efforts might be more productive... Boy, was I wrong!

"OK, tell me what the Democratic party is all about."

"Democrats want the terrorists to win in Iraq, they want to legalize gay marriage, bestiality and child-molestation, they want to continue the slaughter of the unborn through abortion, they want to make firearm ownership by anyone other than the police and military illegal, and worst of all, a Democrat congressman was caught sending sexually explicit messages to underaged male House pages."

After I picked my jaw up off the floor, I decided to play along. "Wait a second... I thought that that Congressman was a Republican.

"No sir, he was a Democrat."

"Well, I'll be! I'm glad you're getting the truth out. Are you from here in WV? Are you making a lot of these Skype calls?"

"Well sir, I'm in Virginia, just outside of Washington, and yes, we volunteers will be making lots of these calls tonight and early tomorrow."

"Well then, how did you get my contact information? I don't donate to any political parties or other causes..."

"We're calling everyone who is listed as an American on Skype."

"That's interesting. By the way, do you have any contact information? I'd like to check out some of your claims and get back to you."

"Unfortunately, we're going to be too busy to handle citizen inquiries, so I can't give you a call-back number."

"That's OK, I didn't think you could. By the way, I'm a Democrat, and I happen to know that you're grossly distorting Democratic positions, and I also know that Mark Foley was a Republican."

He hung up. No surprise there.

So, DU, has anybody else gotten a random call through VOIP, Skype or otherwise? Also, does anybody know about the legality of political campaigning through the internet, particularly when said campaigning involves wholsale making shit up about your opponents, and outright lies as to a member of Congress' political affiliation?