Joanna Rees Robocalls Irk Voters. Democracy Can Be Annoying.
| Just in time for dinner |
Rees' campaign has already started inundating voters in the Richmond District with the forever disturbing robocalls -- asking them to come out to her new campaign headquarters on Geary Boulevard (although she did say Geary Street in the message). The automated calls sparked e-mails among Richmond neighbors; some of them were curious and others were just irritated that the campaign was already calling.
"I called her campaign to tell them I did not want them to call my cell phone anymore," said Sue Vaughan, a local voter and Green party honcho. "It costs me money."
"I don't know how they got my cell phone number," Vaughan added.
Here is how. "All the stuff you put on the [voter registration] form when the guy accosts you at Safeway to vote is now in the hands of some telemarketer," said Jim Ross, a local political consultant.
But how effective are robocalls anyway? Well, that depends. If Rees had Barack Obama calling on her behalf, then, sure, people would probably show up to her campaign kickoff. But if it's just Rees' voice at the other end of the line, most people are going to hang up, Ross said.
"That's pretty ineffective," Ross said. "But maybe she wanted to create a buzz -- because now you are calling me to do a story and perhaps that's her strategy."
Good point. After all, bad publicity is free publicity.
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