Will I Be A Target Of Robo Calls, Too?

Kristin, who lives next door, has received some of those robo calls over the past week. Actually she receives them quite often. If she is not home the calls go to her answering machine and she erases them. I told her to keep them and forward them to David Catonese over at the KY3 political blog.

Kristin doesn't like the robo calls. They are nasty, suggesting Obama pals around with terrorists and.... well, listen for yourself. This is the call she received:

These robo calls seem to be originating from FLS Connect out of St. Paul Minnesota. Here is their website. This is the same firm that did all those calls against McCain in 2000. A page on their website features this testimonial from Karl Rove:

"I know these guys well. They become partners with the campaigns they work with. From designing the program to drafting scripts; from selecting targets to making the calls in a professional, successful way they work as hard to win your races as you do."

Yeah, the same Karl Rove. He's a big bud with one of the principals of FLS, Tony Feather, who had his start with the Missouri Republican Party.

A former executive director of the Missouri Republican Party, Feather is known for his fierce campaign tactics on behalf of candidates like John Ashcroft and former Missouri Attorney General Bill Webster. Feather ran Webster’s 1992 campaign for governor; Webster not only lost but went to prison on charges related to misusing his office for campaign purposes. Feather is also a compatriot of Karl Rove, whom he first met in 1974.
Feather founded Feather Larson Synhorst with another GOP operative, Tom Synhorst, who is sometimes referred to as the "Johnny Appleseed of Astroturf."

FLS is responsible for many of those annoying robo calls to voters that arrive during the days leading up to elections.

I suspect things will only get nastier the closer we get to the election. There is only one door left unopened and McCain cracked it a little bit yesterday with the politically charged word "welfare", as in saying that Obama is a socialist and wants to turn the IRS into a giant welfare agency. Socialist? Welfare? Will we be hearing those words on the robo calls in the coming days? What's next? This? "Don't forget: he's definitely black and he may be a terrorist."

Do robo calls work? well, robo calls from FLS Connect are cheap. At six cents a call, $764.60 reaches almost 13,000 Greene County voters. Did you receive one in August? I did and I remember how the caller ended the call.

I just don't think I would want to associate myself too closely with Karl Rove and his robo calls crew. But these guys seem to like making robo calls. (Tim Trower is a busy fellow!)

Where will the calls come from and who will pay for them?

How will the call be phrased?

Will they be pro candidate or anti candidate calls?

Why do I get this feeling that I am going to be a target of robo calls?

Maybe because we look to the past to predict the future?