Is it true that the Bush family has been leaving spam voice mail messages on voters' phones telling them to vote for Bush? I thought it sounded crazy but I read it in the paper here yesterday. Has anyone here received one of those voice messages?

I for one would instantly vote against any candidate who did that to me.

I haven't heard that, but I wouldn't based on where I live. I'd imagine the states where they are calling are the swing states, of which Maryland (where I live) is not one of them.

Do we have any residents of Pennsylvania, Ohio, or Florida on the boards? They would be the better people to ask.

Yes, I think the story did mention that it had been happening in Pennsylvania.

I read over at the civfanatics forum that there were some posters who had got those phone calls.

I don't see why it would be far fetched - I received similar messages from four different candidates in our last federal election.

Apart from the voice mails I received phone calls from two parties asking to put up signs on my lawn and a third party called on election day offering to drive me to and from the voting centre.

All of this just served to tick me off and had no impact on the way I voted.

I live in Pennsylvania and I haven't recieved any messages so far. I guess the Bushies know Philly is a democratic stronghold, eh?

Right, I've tracked down the source of this story. It was a letter, not a news story so it's veracity may be a bit more questionable (unless an SP member can confirm it, in which case it will be irrefutable).

Tom Agee, of Parnell, writes: "My sister lives in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, population 14,000 and famous for its Civil War battleground. Pennsylvania is one of the key battleground states, which could go to either candidate in the presidential election. Bush has visited Pennsylvania more than 50 times during the campaign. My sister and I talk on the phone each week, and she said recently, "Guess who called me the other day? Believe it or not it was President George W. Bush asking me for my vote." Evidently one of the Republicans' campaign tactics is to use automated telemarketing techniques to randomly call numbers with a recorded message from Dubya himself. But wait, there's more. I talked to her this weekend and she played me an answerphone message from George's mum, former first lady Barbara Bush, who said social security benefits were safe as long as George W. was re-elected, but not to believe what John Kerry promises. We're wondering whether the senior Bush will be on the phone to her next. The mind boggles."

We've gotten mltiple calls (pre-recorded, of course) from Georgie and eve one from Laura - she was telling us to vote for the whole GOP ticket!

Wow. So it's true. How odd. I would hate to get a call like that. It would put me right off.

I've been getting a lot of Republican spam e-mail lately... obviously the people's right to privacy is an alien concept to the Republicans. The only thing that still amazes me is that after all this, it's still very likely that Bush is going to win. It's really amazing what people in the US are prepared to swallow with a smile.

I've been getting calls from Liberal PAC's. And some spam, too. Maybe what some would consider "Conservative Spam" would be legitimate information to others...and vice versa for "Liberal Spam".

There have been credible reports of both sides using mass mailings and programmed dialings to reach likely voters...please don't automatically call it all "Bush Spam".

Funny I only got Republican spam then... Maybe someone (you know who you are) signed me up. :shake:

Ah...you're onto me now...that's our big plan...recruit young Europeans and have them emmigrate to the US as Republicans.

It was GM's idea.

i had calls from several factions to, at least, vote. Some of them are recorded messages and some are actual persons. Since i am not american, i cannot vote, thus i cannot even register, thus my phone number is not in the registered voters list, thus i get those stupid calls all the stupid time. i have to say, those republicans are a bit lazy. For all the phone messages i have gotten, all the republican factions used recorded message and the democrat factions used actual real life sweet hot youthful female voice.

i mentioned in other thread that bon jovi and leonardo came to isu today for john kerry. Besides their appearance, leo also recoarded a voice message particularly for university female voters. Since i am either voter nor female, i don't know the content of the message.

ahhhh, all the benefits and excitments living in a swing state.

I live in Ohio and have received spam calls from the GOP, and, to be fair, one from the Democrats, but none from the First Family, Maybe George's finger got tired. The odd thing about one GOP call is that even though I hanged up, it somehow triggered my answering machine and completed its message on the tape.

I live in Texas - Bushland, of course (yuk!) - and I've recieved multiple calls (at least two per week) over the last month and a half from both Dubya and Laura, as well as from the Republican candidate for the Congressional seat in this district. Actually, I get more phone messages from the republican clan than I get from my own family!

I find it disturbing - the advent of politics into the world of telemarking, which is bad enough! (And yes, I would find it just as disturbing if it were Kerry and the local Democrats doing the same thing.)