behind them.
Rove's strategy for more than a decade is to polarize the electorate, and then energize the fundie/Republican base and depress turnout among Democrats and Independents. Now this strategy has been automated, at a cost in the range of 15 cents per targeted registered voter!
From
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/06/us/politics/06push.html?pagewanted=print :
"New Telemarketing Ploy Steers Voters on Republican Path
By CHRISTOPHER DREW. November 6, 2006
An automated voice at the other end of the telephone line asks whether you believe that judges who "push homosexual marriage and create new rights like abortion and sodomy" should be controlled. If your reply is "yes," the voice lets you know that the Democratic candidate in the Senate race in Montana, Jon Tester, is not your man. ... Using a telemarketing tactic that is best known for steering consumers to buy products, the organizers of the political telephone calls say they have reached hundreds of thousands of homes in five states over the last several weeks in a push to win votes for Republicans. Democrats say the calls present a distorted picture.
The Ohio-based conservatives behind the new campaign, which include current and former Procter & Gamble managers, say the automated system can reach vast numbers of people at a fraction of the cost of traditional volunteer phone banks and is the most ambitious political use of the telemarketing technology ever undertaken. But critics say the automated calls are a twist on push polls „ a campaign tactic that is often criticized as deceptive because it involves calling potential voters under the guise of measuring public opinion, while the real intent is to change opinions with questions that push people in one direction or the other. .. Mr. Swift said his group, Common Sense Ohio, is a nonprofit advocacy organization and is financed by wealthy Republican donors. A sister organization, Common Sense 2006, has received a donation from the Republican Governors Public Policy Committee, an affiliate of the Republican Governors Association. Under federal law, the groups are not required to
disclose their donors publicly or reveal how much money they have raised. ...
During the automated calls, which last about a minute, the moderator first asks whether the listener is a registered voter or which candidate he favors. Voters receive different sets of questions depending on how they answer. The system then asks a series of "yes" or "no" questions about different issues, and each answer guides the system forward. ... Gabriel S. Joseph III, the president of ccAdvertising, ... said his computers could make as many as 3.5 million calls a day on behalf of all clients, at 10 to 15 cents a call. According to its Web site, the company has also run phone campaigns for a number of conservative organizations, including the National Rifle Association, and for businesses as varied as mortgage lenders and a local Starbucks.
Mr. Swift said that through the calls his group had identified core supporters, who will receive a reminder call on Election Day. Neither Mr. Swift nor Mr. Joseph would say how many people had been called in the effort, though Mr. Joseph said his company had tried to reach every home in Maryland. Given Census Bureau estimates of just over two million households in the state, the calls could cost $200,000 to $300,000. Mr. Joseph said that in a typical campaign, half of the homes answered the calls. About 20 percent of the people who were called answered some of the questions, he said, and only about 10 percent completed an entire survey. ... Richard H. Timberlake, a retired minister in Knoxville who supported Mr. Ford, said he hung up after the first two questions. "It became almost a barrage against him," Mr. Timberlake said."
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