McCain Uses Dirty Push Polling Tactics Against Romney
Does anyone not believe that next year’s election will the dirtiest in history? Republican McCain Smears Republican Romney in the New Hampshire Primary!
East Valley Tribune, November 16th
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — New Hampshire’s attorney general is investigating phone calls to voters that pretend to be opinion polls but then undercut presidential contender Mitt Romney and his Mormon faith - and make favorable statements about Republican rival John McCain. McCain says they’re not his doing and he wants them stopped. Romney says it’s a religious attack and “un-American.”
Western Wats, a Utah-based company, placed the calls that initially sound like a poll but then pose questions that cast Romney in a harsh light, according to people who received the calls. In politics, this type of phone surveying is called “push polling” - contacting potential voters and asking questions intended to plant a message, usually negative, rather than gauging attitudes.
Readers of these pages may remember that Western Wats is the company that was hired by Randy Graf who was then challenging Gabrielle Giffords for the congressional seat in the 2006 election. Similar smear “polls” were conducted in Congressional District Eight involving tens of thousands of phone calls.
A spokesman for the company would not comment on whether it made the calls. However, its client services director, Robert Maccabee, said, “Western Wats has never, currently does not, nor will it ever engage in push polling.”
The 20-minute calls started on Sunday in New Hampshire and Iowa. At least seven people in the two early voting states received the calls, some as recently as Thursday.
Deputy Attorney General Bud Fitch said New Hampshire has never prosecuted a case involving such calls but was moving forward. He cautioned against expecting an immediate resolution.