Who's Calling Now?

Steve Pritchard had never gotten so many political phone calls.

Calls to get out the vote.

Calls to support Republicans, Democrats, whomever.

But one right before the general election sticks out.

8:29 I was sitting in the kitchen, and got this call. Found myself getting angry, and hung up before the person finished.

Had Pritchard held the line, he would have heard this.

Sfx: Below tape.

As soon as Pritchard?s wife walked in the door, he told her about the call.

12:00 I said things like they are sinking to a new low. They must be desperate.

Pritchard knew Senator Below?s platform well.

He was confused though.

It had sounded like a pro-Below call.

But it wasn?t.

Pritchard had no idea who placed the call.

There wasn?t any ?paid for? tag line at the end.

But Pritchard wasn?t the only one confused.

Theo Yedinsky, with the state Democratic party, says voters all over the state got these calls.

1:28 originally I thought it was limited to one or two districts, and then I started calling around to other folks and find out that it was going on everywhere. So you had Cliff?s district, you had the Kalob race, you had the Wellington race, they were doing calls in Senator D?Allesandro?s race, that targeted him as being a sex offender. They had calls into Maggie Hassan?s races, calling her Hasan. (fade this down)

As Yedinsky talks, he flags a New Hampshire map.

He points to senate districts where Democrats received these anonymous, pretending to be something you aren?t phone calls.

State GOP leaders say their candidates were targets too.

But so far, nobody has provided either a tape or transcript of those calls.

Except in the gubernatorial primary.

Political observers and campaign insiders talk about five or six such calls that came out right before that election.

They were anti- Bruce Keough calls.

And some of those same people say they cost Keough the election.

He lost to Craig Benson by 43 hundred votes.

Charlie Arlinghaus worked on that campaign, and many others.

He says this is the first time New Hampshire has seen these types of calls.

Track 15

4:32 ? What we had seen in the past was generally a call from a candidate in hos own voice, or a celebrity endorsement- Bush urging you to vote for the R. ticket? This is sort of a new, sneaky method.

Disc 2
Track 1

3:46 if it?s not identified, anything can go. That?s the danger.

State senator Clifton Below.

?One of our basic principles in NH is to identify who is paying for the message. This automated phone calling is a new way to communicate a message, just like a piece of mail, or a radio ad, that right now we don?t have laws that force to disclose who is paying for this message.

Right now under New Hampshire law, it?s illegal to call somebody late at night with a political message, live or taped.

It?s also illegal to say somebody supports, say, a tea tax, when that person has never voted to support a tea tax.

But there?s nothing on the books about anonymous calls, or calls that sound supportive when they aren?t.

While many of the calls surfaced in close races, National Republican Committeeman Tom Rath isn?t convinced they altered any outcomes.

20:07 I am not sure they were as devastating and as effective as people thought they were. I think the average voter tends to disregard it. I am not excusing it, I just think you can overreact to some of this stuff.

Rath thinks voters are smart enough to use the delete button on their voice mail.

That?s an assumption John Bennett doesn?t share.

He teaches political philosophy at the University of Rochester.

Bennett says the fake telephone calls differ from tv and radio ads.

9:52 ? it is much harder for the person who is not well informed to know they should be skeptical of something that presents itself as a message from the candidate.

17:21 pretending to be someone you are not is a form of lying. Pretending to be what you?re not is a lie?if you pretend to be the UPS man, and you are not, in order to get into my house, or answer my door, you are doing the same thing as lying. And that?s what?s wrong.

State Republican Tom Rath says the voter will decide what?s wrong or unethical when they go to the polling booth.

He says he doubts either party is virginal in their approach to aggressive campaigning.

And dismisses Democratic charges of unsavory behavior.

11:12 The parties in thise state play rough and tumble. It?s a contact sport. It?s more than a contact sport, it?s a collision sport, but I don?t think it?s unfair. I am not aware of the state parties crossing the line.

Professor Bennett says voters have to take some of the blame for the calls.

20:15 the campaigns we get, are the campaigns people find out will work. If they find out that distortion and lies work, that?s what we will get. So we have a responsibility as voters and participants not to put up with this thing, if we don?t want it.

But the calls are cheap and easy to produce.

That means the volume of calls could increase in upcoming elections.

That?s prompting some Republican and Democratic state lawmakers to take action.

They?re considering legislation that would help people know who they?re hearing from when they pick up their kitchen phones. For NHPR News, I?m DG.