Tag: Robocalls

The National Republican Congressional Committee told Politico yesterday it was targeting swing-district Democratic officials, like Colorado's freshman Rep. Betsy Markey. The NRCC said it was going to wage an expensive attack campaign featuring TV and radio ads in districts around the country. But it didn't do that. Instead, it spent not a dollar in simply telling Politico it was going to do that and Politico wrote all about it. Nasty work, and done dirt cheap!

Just four days before the election, Republican presidential nominee John McCain's campaign hits Colorado telephones with a new robocall that sounds almost sweet in comparison to earlier McCain calls that linked Barack Obama to domestic terrorism and questioned his patriotism. The robocall, paid for by McCain-Palin and the Republican National Committee, warns voters that the Democratic candidate's promise of change rings hollow because the Chicago politician is — well, a politician.

Taking a cue from Talking Points Memo, the Obama campaign put up an interactive map on Friday to track "some of the most toxic attacks" from the McCain campaign in the form of robocalls and printed material in Colorado and other battleground states.

There are good robocalls and there are bad robocalls. And then there are robocalls that pretend not to be robocalls.

I received a press release last night from Barack Obama's Colorado Press Secretary Matt Chandler at 10:08 p.m. The timing didn't surprise me because working late on a Sunday is standard operating procedure as Election Day nears — but the headline caught my eye: "CNN: Sarah Palin speaks out against John McCain's robo calls." Whoa! Heavy stuff, and it certainly got me to read the rest of the release. Unfortunately, the quote from Palin doesn't at all fit the headline, and the Obama campaign should know better.

Read more of Jeff's commentaries: • Exclusive: Eng cable ad dings Coffman • Joe Biden's patriotic teeth: A gleaming beacon of hope

Gov. Bill Ritter on Friday expressed "serious disappointment in the McCain campaign" over automated robocalls aimed at Colorado voters this week seeking to tie Barack Obama to a "domestic terrorist" whose group "killed Americans."'

Colorado telephones are ringing again on Thursday with a robocall from the McCain campaign tying Barack Obama to "domestic terrorist Bill Ayers," whose group "killed Americans." The robocall, labeled "the worst one yet" by TPM's Greg Sargent, continues a McCain tactic of decrying personal attacks in public while carrying them out under the radar. It's the second attack robocall questioning Obama's patriotismreported in Colorado in as many days.

Colorado telephones have been ringing on Wednesday with a robocall from the McCain campaign that questions Barack Obama's patriotism and charges the Democrat with "putting Hollywood above America," according to Greg Sargent at TPM Election Central. The robocalls are also hitting phones in North Carolina, Missouri, Wisconsin, according to TPM readers.