So I am a woman living in Ohio and I am what I guess they call a "swing voter". I have voted Republican in the past, but I am currently a completely committed supporter of Barack Obama and Sherrod Brown. I have been too busy to volunteer for the the campaigns as much as I'd like to this year. My job is out of control busy, but I have made financial donations to the Obama campaign and will definitely take some time off work for Get Out the Vote.
Being a swing state voter, particularly in Ohio, means my phone rings a lot and my mailbox is usually full of fliers and campaign materials. The Obama campaign doesn't call or mail much - they know they have my vote. But the Romney campaign? It's a never-ending cycle of calls and mail and I think they are starting to run out of money.
At least every day, I get a push poll or a call or 4 or 5 pieces of mail from the Romney campaign. My husband won't take the calls, but I enjoy them and we are even at a point where he tells them to talk to me when they call for him. I figure it's an opportunity to waste some of the Romney campaign's time and money. If I can keep them thinking I am a swing voter, then they will keep spending money trying to get my vote and I can make a slight dent in their marketing budget. So I feign interest and ask a lot of questions on every phone call. I pretend to be the typical low information voter that they are trying to target now. I sound horrified when they tell me that I may lose my right to pray in public, I ask about his healthcare policy, his foreign policy, and whatever else I can do to keep them on the phone. I've learned that if I give my opinion, they will catch on and hang up, but asking a lot of questions makes the call seem worth their time.
Well last night I got what was probably the absolute worst political phone call I can remember. It wasn't a robo-call from Chuck Norris or a religious right plea from Mike Huckabee's group. No, this was a frantic recording from the Romney campaign itself. It was a man's voice with a frantic tone, begging me to donate $3 to the Romney campaign to help them keep up with Barack Obama. $3? That was all they wanted and this man sounded as if the world would end if I didn't make the donation. It was a recording and he spoke so fast, it was almost hard to understand him, but he had this tone of desperation in his voice that made me laugh. So after the recording I pushed "1" to speak to a representative. I got someone who must have been paid to do the job because she just asked if I wanted to make the donation. When I told her I couldn't afford it, she didn't even try to convince me, just pleasantly said OK. I then told her that I was undecided on the election, but that the recording was one of the worst I heard and that the person in it sounded crazy - she said that a lot of people had made that comment and then she laughed and said she would definitely let them know.
I think they are losing it over there.