| Monday, November 06, 2006 |
| Down to the wire |
The Republicans are pulling out all the stops to hold onto power, including their usual bag of dirty tricks. Let's start with the robo calls... According to an email sent out this evening form Democrats.com:
Karl Rove has been bragging for weeks about his "72-hour program" to swing the elections, which predict a Democratic takeover of Congress.
Now we know what it is: a dirty trick campaign using robocalls.
The calls are made to Democrats and swing voters at all times of day or night to make them angry. And they pretend to be from the Democrat ("Hello, I'm calling with information about Lois Murphy"). If you hang up, they call back 7-8 times, and each time you hear the Democrat's name, to get you angry at him or her. If you stay on, you get to hear a scathing attack on the Democrat. And from Talking Points Memo's Muckraker team, word that a caught GOP is a temporarily chastened GOP:
Indianapolis Star reports that the Indiana Republican party has cut ties to one of the firms responsible for harrassing GOP-sponsored robocalls. The state GOP fired Conquest Communications not because the firm's calls were necessarily harrassing, but because they were automated -- a violation of Indiana state law: The Star reports that the Indiana GOP is also refusing to pay the company, not because the calls were harassing ... or illegal ... but because they were automated, and "that's not what [they] contracted for... Under Indiana law, all automated calls have to be first introduced by a live operator.
TPMM has more on the so-called "false flag" calls, which are targeting voters in some 20 districts, paid for by the Tom Reynolds RNCC:
om Hayhurst (IN-03)
Jason Altmire (PA-04)
Nick Lampson (TX-22)
Bruce Braley (IA-01)
Patricia Madrid (NM-01)
Angie Paccione (CO-04)
Joe Courtney (CT-02) And according to TPMM, there are not one, but two firms involved. TPM also has news that Dems have sent the GOP a cease and desist letter.
Here in Florida, I'll bet Charlie Crist never figured he'd make national news for dissing the president... but he did. I'd hate to be the guy taking calls for his campaign tonght. Lox Around the Clock, baby...
 PENSACOLA, Florida (AP) -- The White House did not hide its irritation Monday at Florida GOP gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist for ducking President Bush at a campaign rally in the Republican-friendly Panhandle.
Crist said he considered the Pensacola area so firmly in his camp that it made more sense to campaign elsewhere in the state as the race to replace outgoing Gov. Jeb Bush tightened.
On a tarmac in Texas where the president boarded Air Force One for the trip east, Bush political strategist Karl Rove mockingly questioned what kind of alternate rally Crist could put together that would rival the expected 10,000-person crowd that Bush was expected to draw at the Pensacola Civic Center.
The White House already had distributed schedules saying Crist would introduce Bush at the rally.
Crist's opponent, Democratic Rep. Jim Davis, seized on the news.
"Now that the president is so unpopular, Charlie refuses to stand side by side with him," Davis said. "It says when the going gets tough, Charlie won't stand up."
Crist's chief of staff, George LeMieux, said the candidate already has strong support in the heavily Republican Pensacola area and thought his time would be better spent campaigning elsewhere. LeMieux said the decision had nothing to do with the president's job approval ratings.
Jeb Bush will attend the Pensacola event in Crist's place. Rep. Katherine Harris, who is mounting a lukewarm challenge to Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson, will also be with the president. Before the September primary, Republican leaders failed to support Harris.
Okay, so how does Katherine Harris manage to look foolish even when the story isn't about her? By only getting invited to be in the audience, rather than on stage with even a Cristless Bush.
Meanwhile, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel is out with early vote and absentee numbers from Broward, Dade and Palm Beach, which show that Republicans continue to kick ass in absentee, while Dems appear to be stronger in the early vote game.
And move over Maryland! My radio-mate, Rev. Al Sharpton, makes news for his efforts to keep the Black vote at home in the Democratic Party.
In Tennessee, who do you believe on those curious polls? Especially since Mason Dixon never factored in the early vote.
Tags: Politics, News, elections, 2006 |
posted by JReid @ 9:06 PM   |
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