Posted on 09/04/2006 5:55:10 PM PDT by Dutchgirl
Political automated phone calls are the most cost-effective way to reach your constituents. The cost is minimal compared to other media, and the effectiveness is unsurpassed. Automated calling will allow your campaign to target your message to your constituents, give them valuable information, and help you capture valuable data to win your election. Also, unlike other media, you will be able to reach your constituents exactly at the time of day of your choosing. You can place your calls in the middle of the day to target answering
I have been home all day with a head cold and my phone has rung every fifteen minutes. I breifly entertained the thought of turning it into a drinking game but I would be dead of alcohol poisoning by now. Any other Freepers care to vent?
Just take the phone off the hook. This will not end until the polls close tomorrow. If you're waiting for any important calls, give those people your cell phone number.
It's just not worth the stress.
Too funny!
The problem with people who only think in terms of "cost" is that they are oblivious to Cost.
Caller ID. If you don't recognize the caller, don't answer
It's not the answer for everybody but it's one of the reasons I went 100% wireless several years ago.
I have never had a telemarketer of any kind call me in the past 15 years or so on my celluar.
My Mom lives in MA but uses an AT&T calling card I gave her which routes all of her calls through one of several call centers here in FL, where all of my brothers and sisters live. I have many other friends who are pilots. It just doesn't work for me to NOT answer my phone, although now that it is after 9PM, it has been blessedly silent.
I wonder, if I participate in early voting in November, will there be some way to stop the calls before they build to a frenzy?
P.S. I was folding wash and didn't have time to chat, so I hung up on him.
:O)
My phone has been ringing off the hook all day today. I have already made up my mind who I am voting for tomorrow. It's annoying.
I doubt if early voting will make a difference. Good luck!
My son answered the phone last week when Charlie Crist invited me to a BBQ to meet and greet the "Maverick" himself. Son started singing the The Old Maverick McCain Song from Rush Limbaugh.
WE hear that a lot of Republicans in Maryland are getting autocalls from Barbara Mikulski.
Nobody has any idea who she's endorsing, or for what office, since they all basically screamed in horror and hung up the phone.
There is a BLOODY fight going on between two dems, Reggie Fullwood and Audra Gibson. If I had a nickle for every call...HMMM...maybe I'm in the wrong line of work!
Actually, I'd sooner drink motor oil than meet the old maverick. :O)
"Any other Freepers care to vent?"
I vented the day after the election, when I got 7 such calls. Three were for RINO Joe Schwarz... in fact, I think that all of the calls are for candidates that lost their races.
I wrote a letter to the local newspaper, and made my feelings quite well known personally to the local political types.
McCain called here the other day too...and Mel Martinez, the Sheriff, and zillions of folks whose names I didn't recognize.
After I made my contact, I scratched the name off the list. I hand dialled phone numbers and I was prepared to answer questions about my candidate. This auto dialling is so different. It's virtually worthless. There is no interaction.
LOL! I hung up on him too!
It is getting a little silly now, isn't it? :O) Most of the people calling here are unknown to me also.
I live in Florida's 13th congressional district, the seat which Katherine Harris is vacating to run for the Senate. We are being barraged with auto campaign phone calls! The two Republican front runners are duking it out big time. I've never seen so much negative campaigning in the local Republican primary.
Hmmm... Caller ID is like The Alamo, everyone needs a fortress. Even if I do know who's calling. I may not answer. But some nights I pick up and scream imprications ending with "do not ever call this number again!!" and bang down my tough IT&T circa 1975 receiver.
Other times I pick up and redeposit the receiver. I owe these people no courtesy whatsoever. One actually protested, "but I have to make a living!" I responded, "yes, but not in this way" and banged down.
No stress on this end of the line!
Absolutely. When I lived in New York I did the same for Rick Lazio. It was person to person contact and I think it was far better than hearing some recording. A few weeks ago my Rep., Ginny Waite-Brown, called. At first I thought it was a recording, but it actually was her on a conference call. If you wanted to ask the candidate questions you pushed the # key and were able to talk to her directly. It lasted about an hour and was really informative as to her positions. I appreciated it far more than these silly recordings.
Hillary called me the last election here in FL. I know it's irrational, but it infuriated me.
How dare that witch call my phone number and try to TALK to ME.... Arggghhh.... My kids asked me who the heck I was cursing out on the phone.
I don't have a landline; went wireless years ago. Made the mistake (since corrected) of giving my cell number to the Supervisor of Elections.
Actually, it's been very useful; I now know who to vote against. Anybody who's such a bad manager that he calls cell phones, or allows his agents to do it, doesn't deserve my vote.
The funniest one so far was a candidate I called after I received a recorded message from him on my cell. He was very apologetic, said he didn't know his telemarketer was doing this, would terminate his contract with them immediately, offered to pay for my cell call, etc., etc.
He did -- sort of. A few days later, my wife got a LIVE personal call from the same guy on HER cell phone. Let's just say she wasn't very receptive.
The auto-dialing program will ignore you if you have an answering machine screening your calls! It is going to be a long two months!!!!!!
I'm back to screening calls - digital answering machine and caller ID. If I recognize the caller ID or if the person identifies himself as someone I want to talk to, I pick up. Easy as pie.
Oh, and since I don't run a police, fire and EMS service out of my basement, I don't recognize the concept of an "emergency" call. :-)
Imagine that!
"When politics are used to allocate resources, the resources all end up being allocated to politics." -- P. J. O'Rourke, here.
What I've found is that with all ( at least all the calls I get in Georgia ) the auto-dialer calls, there is a slight but detectable delay in answering- I grab the phone, say, "Hi there, this is XX XXXX," and if it is not immediately responded to, hang up.
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