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Friday, February 8, 2008

More Dirty Tricks? Robocall “on behalf of Obama campaign” Gives Incorrect Date for Caucus

posted by on February 8 at 8:42 AM

Slog reader Julianne writes…

I just got a robocall “on behalf of the Barack Obama campaign” telling me to go caucus on Sunday February 10th, and not Saturday February 9th, which is the correct date. They told me to call 866-675-2008 for more information. I just called and it’s the correct number for “Obama for America.”

The caller ID was 206-438-4148. I just called it and the recorded message said they had called on behalf of one of their political clients, and that I could get more information on them at callmeyer.com, which is the site of Meyer Teleservices, or call back during business hours.

Either the Obama camp doesn’t know the correct date of the Washington state caucuses… or someone is trying to confuse Obama supporters about the actual date to keep them from showing up.

RSS icon Comments

1

I'm really beginning to loathe the Clintons.

Posted by AMB | February 8, 2008 8:53 AM
2

You know, most of the nation could care less about WA. When I lived on the East Coast, everyone joked about WA being an outpost. I've even heard some of the media mention the other contests occuring tomorrow, but failed to mention WA. Fact is, Washingtonians think they're important, but they aren't.

Posted by Reality Check | February 8, 2008 8:58 AM
3

Yeah, that's just what we need - people voting who can't even be bothered to be informed enough to know what day the caucus is.

Posted by Fifty-Two-Eighty | February 8, 2008 8:58 AM
4

Obama has been wrong on some other details. In an e-mail they're telling voters that delegate selection begins no later than 1:30. It should read "no EARLIER than 1:30", according to party rules. Everyone's hurried. Mistakes get made.

Posted by Brendan | February 8, 2008 8:59 AM
5

Just got the same call at my house.

Posted by Tony | February 8, 2008 9:02 AM
6

"We" Democrats, Fifty-Two-Eighty, want everybody to vote. You Republicans and libertarians are the ones who want to exclude those who don't meet your arbitrary standards.

So I don't know what you're complaining about: if you think the folks we are helping get to the caucus tomorrow are not smart enough to vote, doesn't that help your side?

Posted by elenchos | February 8, 2008 9:03 AM
7

yay clintons! gotta keep the devil, way down in the hole.

Posted by Bellevue Ave | February 8, 2008 9:04 AM
8

Uh... if no one gives a shit about WA state voters... why was Clinton here last night, why is Obama here today? And McCain too?

Usually we don't matter in the national vote. If Clinton had sewn it up, or Obama, we wouldn't matter. But with things so close... suddenly we do matter. A bit.

Posted by Dan Savage | February 8, 2008 9:05 AM
9

really, what do you expect from the clintons

This is why there going to win the nomination and i'm going to sit at home/ a bar with hot apathitic chicks and get wasted come november

Posted by linus | February 8, 2008 9:09 AM
10

Well e-x-c-u-s-e me for my silly old "arbitrary" Jeffersonian standards.

Posted by Fifty-Two-Eighty | February 8, 2008 9:10 AM
11

I had that call last night.

And if Hillary gets the nomination why should we vote for her?

Posted by Cato the Younger Younger | February 8, 2008 9:11 AM
12

Hint: If you want to turn the clock back two centuries, you might be a conservative.

Posted by elenchos | February 8, 2008 9:12 AM
13

Are we seeing dirty-trick robocalls?  Or dirty-trick false reporting of dirty-trick robocalls?

Or maybe both?

Posted by lostboy | February 8, 2008 9:12 AM
14

11 - haven't you gotten the memo? republicans are evil and the clintons are the ONLY ONES who can protect you from them! they've been vetted. VETTED!!

and then when hillary's in office, they will repeal the 22nd amendment, since the clintons are the ONLY LIVING DEMOCRATS who have been battle tested by the republican slime machine. ergo, they're the only ones who can ever be elected again EVER. got it?

just don't worry, my child. the clintons are here to protect you.

Posted by brandon | February 8, 2008 9:16 AM
15

how much does a robo campaign set you back? about 5 mil?

Posted by some dude | February 8, 2008 9:20 AM
16

Must be Slick Willie and James Carville at work! No Billary!

Posted by Lloyd Cooney | February 8, 2008 9:22 AM
17

I don't really care who my robot caucuses with on Sunday.

Until the Great Robot Uprising occurs, it doesn't get a vote.

Posted by NapoleonXIV | February 8, 2008 9:23 AM
18

FYI: I just called 206 438 4148 and got through to an "agent" in about two minutes. Lacking a game plan, I hung up on 'em.

Posted by Tom | February 8, 2008 9:24 AM
19

I need to know who's behind this....STAT!
....before I head for tomorrow's caucus.

Posted by Bauhaus | February 8, 2008 9:26 AM
20

I think #13 might be on to something.

It's a firm hired by the Obama campaign.


"A St. Cloud-based direct marketing company has been surfing the rising wave of U.S. Sen. Barack Obama's presidential candidacy.

With more than 400 employees in three call centers statewide, Meyer Associates Teleservices has been conducting almost nonstop telephone campaign calling for the Illinois Democrat's second-place showing in Tuesday's New Hampshire primary and his Iowa caucus victory since the holidays, said Jerry Samargia, the company's director of political sales."

Of course, I could be pulling a dirty trick by posting this.

Posted by stilwell | February 8, 2008 9:30 AM
21

the most likely culprit of the bogus robo calls, is groups operating secretly from the main GOP.
Sowing discord and division.

Don't let's fall for it like a bunch of rubes.

Posted by unPC | February 8, 2008 9:30 AM
22

I would think the US attorney can investigate this as a US wire fraud crime, too.

Do we have one who is independent of the GOP??

Posted by unPC | February 8, 2008 9:32 AM
23

Dan, you should have checked with the Obama campaign before posting this. I believe they themselves made the mistake. Very embarrassing for them, indeed.

Posted by me | February 8, 2008 9:34 AM
24

there are a lot of posts on postman's blog running down obama. I read postman all the time and the vast majority of the posters are not the usual crowd. Wonder if this is part of the same effort.

Posted by jamesb | February 8, 2008 9:35 AM
25

Let's hope not, me.

Fastest resource to find your caucus locations, even if you plan to register at the caucus location (or online the night before) is:

Use our online tool to find your caucus location:

http://my.barackobama.com/WAfindyourcaucus

Posted by Will in Seattle | February 8, 2008 9:36 AM
26

(Ignoring comment #23)

I would assume it's GOP more than Clinton. The GOP is terrified of running against anyone but HRC. They're DYING to run against her, because they will win.

Posted by Dianna | February 8, 2008 9:38 AM
27

You can blame me for ALL of it!

Posted by Mr. Poe | February 8, 2008 9:40 AM
28

oh hell! first obama doesn't want to take his picture with the gays and now he gets his own caucus date wrong?

that's enough for me to go to hillary!

FEB 10th PEOPLE AT 5PM

Posted by Emily | February 8, 2008 9:45 AM
29

Thanks, Mr. Poe!

Hey, has Mitt Romney given you any calls since he suddenly freed up his schedule?

Posted by Will in Seattle | February 8, 2008 9:45 AM
30

That's very evil.

Posted by Daniel K | February 8, 2008 9:46 AM
31

Freemasons!

Posted by tomasyalba | February 8, 2008 9:54 AM
32

Damn you Mr. Poe! Damn you!

Posted by NapoleonXIV | February 8, 2008 9:58 AM
33

I just like the word ROBOCALL. But I don't have a landline.

Posted by Amelia | February 8, 2008 10:10 AM
34

Ditto, Amelia--that's one of the reasons I got rid of my phone. The landline is how they gain access.

Well, that, and the brain-control waves.

Posted by NapoleonXIV | February 8, 2008 10:15 AM
35

As of Wednesday, the NYT political calendar had WA caucuses slated for Feb 19 (it's fixed now, your welcome).

And pre-Iowa the Clinton campaign got razzed for publishing the wrong date ... but it turns out they were just echoing a page on the Iowa Democrats official website - which published the wrong date!

Posted by RonK, Seattle | February 8, 2008 10:16 AM
36

Take caller ID with a grain of salt. It's easy to fake the caller ID on your outbound calls; I've done it a few times myself.

Posted by Eric Arrr | February 8, 2008 10:27 AM
37

Meyer Teleservices has got some splainin' to do. I don't care who they're doing it for, it's felonious to lie.

It should be felonious to robocall, period, but that law will never see the light of day. Telemarketers SUCK no matter who or what they're working for.

Posted by Fnarf | February 8, 2008 10:39 AM
38

Thanks, stilwell@20.

If this turns out to be an Obama campaign fuckup, I RELISH the apology that I'm sure will be forthcoming from AMB, Reality Check, Bellevue Ave, linus, Cato, Lloyd Cooney, and anyone else who slandered Clinton on this issue without a shred of evidence.

Posted by Big Sven | February 8, 2008 10:54 AM
39

Turns out it was the robocall company's mistake.

Seems apologies are owed from the knee-jerk accusers on both sides.  I won't hold my breath, though.

Posted by lostboy | February 8, 2008 11:20 AM
40

The reason why caucuses are such a clusterfuck is that they're run and PAID FOR by the parties, and the Democratic Party is both disorganized and underfunded at the local level. Caucuses are put on by regular people with day jobs who practice partisan politics as a hobby and finance all of their own activity on a volunteer basis.

The alternative is a state-run and state-paid primary. One of the big problems with that in Washington is that our mail-in voting elections under national party rules officially start the day ballots are mailed out, putting the official date before February 2. Only IA, NH, NV, and SC are allowed to go before that date, which is why the majority of remaining states went on the earliest possible date of 2/5. If the Democrats allocated any delegates by primary, those delegates would not be seated at the convention, just like in Michigan and Florida.

Posted by Cascadian | February 8, 2008 11:43 AM
41

@28,

I didn't realize that Newsom was gay. Those are some feminine looking men he's fucking.

Posted by keshmeshi | February 8, 2008 12:11 PM
42

come on, anonymous commenting douchebags on some random blog that only a handful people read - APOLOGIZE TO THE CLINTONS NOW. what have they ever done to you to deserve your slander?

Posted by brandon | February 8, 2008 12:47 PM
43

fnarf @ 37 -- Don't blame the teleservice company - they don't write and approve those scripts.

Posted by RonK, Seattle | February 8, 2008 1:57 PM
44

@40 Wow, are you wrong. Arizona had a primary on Super Tuesday and my parents mailed in their ballots for Edwards a week before he dropped out. The date of the primary is what counts, not when the ballots get mailed.

Posted by Mike of Renton | February 8, 2008 2:00 PM
45

I live in Union Gap and I have not received such a call

Posted by army193 | February 8, 2008 2:11 PM
46

I got the same call last night and it is ridiculous that either Hillary or the GOP would do such a thing. They fear a Obama presidency - which they know is going to happen.

PS - for all the folks who say WA doesn't matter - think about that next time you are typing your idiotic emails (on Microsoft Office) or flying in a plane (on Boeing airplane) or even better - shipping a package (UPS started here).

Some people need to learn a little about their country before posting such idiotic messages.

Posted by Phil McKraken | February 9, 2008 6:46 AM

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