Campaign telephone marketing

[enlightenment]

Just a short rant and I'll go away. I'm in Las Vegas.

If I get ONE MORE phone call from ANY candidate I am going to reach through the phone and rip out the lungs of the offender.

I DO NOT CARE who it is.

NO. You may not know who I'm going to vote for in 45 minutes or so . . .

YES. I KNOW where my caucus location is and I do not need directions or a ride.

NO. I am STILL not going to tell you who I'm standing for when I get there. It's bad enough that I have to participate in this ridiculous, undemocratic farce in order to vote in the primary . . . I sure as HELL am not going to tell YOU who I'm voting for. Wait for the results.

I am sick and tired of this. I wouldn't be surprised if people decide to vote for the candidate who annoyed them the LEAST in the preceding week.

:rant:

Sorry. Just had to get this off my chest.

[Kittycat]

1. They offered you a ride?

I wish someone would give me one, and a babysitter. I have until Tuesday to go over and register/vote (we moved) for our primaries. I only have until then... Funny thing - it was in Thursday's paper, and the offices are closed until Tuesday. *sigh*

[napi21]

2. I know waht you mean! I've been trying to figure out how to avoid

them when it's time to vote in Ga. Those calls and the damn recorded ones you get near the General election. I don't have caller ID, and I'm NOT going to pay for it just to avoid these calls, but I have trouble walking, and have damn near killed myself trying to answer the phone...only to find it's one of these idiots!

[Baconfoot]

3. Sorry, but these calls are important and helpful in informing people.

Firstly, for many people, especially in rural areas, those phonecalls are the one time they have to interact with someone from a campaign and may be the only time they get informed about a candidate period. Many people are grateful for the calls and get mad when they don't receive them or don't receive them until the last minute.

Secondly, in order to do get out the vote, you need to know who to get out. Therefore, you need to do voter identification. You need to persuade people to vote for your candidate and target your get out the vote effort at your supporters.

Thirdly, if these efforts didn't make a difference, they wouldn't occur. The unfortunate fact is that people don't magically decide to do their civic duty and vote.

If you've got that pixie dust for your area, please let me know.

[enlightenment]

5. Hmm - civic duty.

I don't live in a rural area, I don't need to be called 16 times (Hillary) - 14 times (Obama) - or even 2 times (Edwards) in ONE WEEK. NO ONE DOES. Find me someone who is "grateful" to be called that often. Please.

If you want to have more people participate in the "process" and do their civic duty then you need to educate people all the time; not just during an election cycle. Work on that. I do it - I teach history. If people understand WHY it matters to vote - not just why it matters today, but why it MATTERS, period, they are more likely to be involved.

That's my pixie dust, champ. I sprinkle it liberally every semester, every year - not just during an election cycle.

I do understand what you're saying, but guess what. I just got home from my caucus.

My candidate didn't make the first cut, so my "vote" didn't count - I'm informed by another DUer that isn't true; the fact that I could stand with my little group meant I did get to vote . . . somehow it doesn't feel that way, because my vote didn't even get counted. If I had been standing in a different precinct, would my vote have counted? Who knows? I never will. But that thought will linger - and it tells me that I was disenfranchised today.

And all those bloody phone calls didn't make a damn difference.

[moondust]

4. Get an answering machine.

Set it for 2 rings. Turn the volume down low. Ignore them until they move on to the next state.