TPM is all over what appears to be a national effort by Republicans to use robo-calls to depress Democratic turnout. It’s a dirty tactic, and one that the campaign of Eastern Washington Democrat Peter Goldmark has been complaining about. Now it’s becoming clear that what the Goldmark people noticed weeks ago is actually one small piece of a very large, somewhat below-the-radar Republcan attack.

What we’re seeing is an apparent coordinated effort from the NRCC — the House GOP committee — to place calls that appear to be from the local Democratic candidate and then automatically call the same number back as many as seven or eight times each time the caller hangs up. If the caller listens to the whole message it goes on to bash the Democratic candidate. But if the caller hangs up prematurely, the computer calls right back. Hang-ups are the achilles heal of robo-calls. So this seems to be an attempt to cover for that weakness by making those who hang up think the Democratic candidate is basically harassing them with phone calls. The GOP wins either way.

In New Hampshire, the state attorney general has gotten involved. (Question for the Goldmark campaign and the Washington State Democrats: Why hasn’t the Washington AG’s office been asked to look into this?)

And in Pennsylvania (where the tactic is being used against Democrat Lois Murphy) a columnist for the Philadelphia Daily News notes how cheap the calls are and suggests giving the NRCC, which is paying for them, a taste of its own medicine.

The culprit in this race is the National Republican Congressional Committee, an organization that’s used such scurrilous campaign tactics this season that it has been disavowed in some instances by the candidates it is supporting.

In the past week alone, FCC records reflect $22,119 for anti-Murphy phone-bank expenses, said NRCC spokesman Ed Petru.

If the robocalls cost a dime, which is a high estimate, that would be 220,000 calls right there.

Petru said the agency wouldn’t be spending its money on robocalls if they weren’t working.

“We don’t think there’s such a thing as an overinformed voter.”

Barf.

You can complain to the FCC if you think the calls are illegal, as some Murphy supporters have done. (202-418-1440, phone; 202-418-0232, fax.)

Or you can do what I briefly considered yesterday: Send the NRCC your own robocalls telling it to STOP IT!

Try www.voiceshot.com - 12 cents a call, no minimum. The NRCC’s number is 202-479-7000.

Meanwhile, think about the economics of this. In Pennsylvania, for about $20,000 the Republicans are able to harass about 200,000 voters in their homes and perhaps discourage them from voting. Way cheaper than TV ads, and perhaps more effective. Hypothetically, say the NRCC spent only half a million dollars on this nation-wide. That’s five million voters called. (UPDATE: Looks like the RNCC actually spent $2.1 million on this nation-wide. That’s potentially 21 million voters called.)

Back to TPM:

What is there to do about it? As described, the calls appear to be in violation of federal regulations which mandate that these calls clearly identify their origin. The repetitive call back may also be a violation in different states… But frankly, none of that matters. Because the folks placing the calls factor in the price of whatever fines might be meted out after the election when the damage is already done.

Truthfully, I don’t think there’s really much to do but publicize it and then get out and vote.

A lot of these races remain inside the MOE, the margin of error. And that means the MOT, the margin of theft. If Dems want to pick up seats on Tuesday they’ll have to get a lot of these races out of the MOT. Because as long as they’re inside, the Republicans can still grab them with a mix of voter suppression, dirty tricks and election fraud.