is sort of two-fold; and I used to do it a lot, both for individual campaigns and sometimes organizational efforts:
1. If others are like me and don't answer the phone (whether cell or land) if I don't recognize the number, it's kind of a waste of energy that could be put to more useful ends. When you used to phone bank, before cell phones, you went to a campaign or organizational office and they had banks of telephones for the volunteers to use (hence the term phone bank). Once caller-ID was available, the call would show up as "Jones Campaign" or "Smith for America." Now, in the Wild West in which we live, most likely that call with a 415 number is going to be a sales or scam call, and people are not going to pick it up. Of course, you can always leave a message (though often campaigns will tell you not to, for various reasons I do not understand). But wouldn't it be better if your call could be ID'd as "Jones for Alabama" rather than with your random, unidentified number?
2. A lot of voters in state or local elections resent outsiders from places like the 415 interfering in their races. Some don't, but a lot do; and so these efforts from the outside can sometimes backfire. Thus the need for the IDing of calls to the local campaign, not individual callers' numbers.
Additional issues, imo, are that individual phone-bankers from around the country are not always trained in what to say or how to react. There's an art to phone banking, and the goals for the call need to be explicitly understood by the volunteers: in the earlier phases of an election it is generally for making voter IDs (to find out the names of those who are supporting your candidate, or leaning; the others you cross off the campaign's list so they don't waste time calling back); in the final week and days, it is for GOTV (calling back the supporters and perhaps leaners to make sure they get to the polls and know their location; and often, to call back to make sure they carried out their promised vote). You should be trained never to get into a discussion or argument with a voter with objections; and how to handle various situations. When you work as a volunteer in a bricks-and-mortar campaign office, there are usually staff who go around monitoring the callers, and they redirect and advise volunteers who are saying things they shouldn't.
I'm not sure if all this outside, individual phone banking is worth the effort in today's world; and I sometimes worry it can do more harm than good.
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