The Daily Background

John Edwards’ campaign was sending prerecorded messages to New Hampshire residents as late as 9PM, Sunday night trying to persuade voters not to vote for Hillary Clinton.

The Daily Background, despite being on the Federal Do Not Call Registry, was on the receiving end of just such a call tonight. The robocall, from an Edwards supporter who identified herself as a Kelly, a nurse from North Conway New Hampshire, said that Edwards has “never taken a dime” from lobbyists. The pre-recorded call is critical of Clinton’s record of taking lobbyist and “special interest” money.

It is illegal under New Hampshire state law for campaigns to send pre-recorded campaign messages or “robocalls” to residents who are registered with the Do Not Call list. The offense is punishable by a fine of up to $5,000 per call.

Interestingly, the call does not close by asking voters to vote for Edwards, but instead by saying “On Tuesday, please say no to politicians like Clinton who take lobbyists’ money,” along with a boilerplate message that said that it was sponsored by the Edwards campaign.

Update: On Sunday, the Clinton campaign sent out a statement from one of its supporters on the Do Not Call Registry saying that Obama’s campaign has illegally robocalled her. The Obama campaign said their vendor had checked their list with the Registry and and hasn’t called anyone they weren’t supposed to. “However,” a spokesperson adds, “if this call went to someone who should not have received it, we will make sure the vendor takes every step to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”

Update 2: Carpetbagger:

As it turns out, the Clinton campaign has levied two charges: 1) the call reached some New Hampshire residents who are on the state’s do-not-call list, which it says makes the calls illegal; and 2) the law requires the calls to identify the campaign sponsoring the call within 30 seconds, and this one waits until 38 seconds.

On the first point, the alleged crime is false. New Hampshire does have a do-not-call law, but it makes an exemption for calls relating to the presidential primaries. In other words, it’s not “illegal activity.”

On the second point, the Clinton campaign appears to be right — the phrase “paid for by Obama for America” comes at the 38-second mark, not the 30-second mark. That’s clearly a no-no, but I’m not entirely sure eight seconds is worth this much fuss. And given that it’s just eight seconds, “illegal activity” seems a little strong.

For what it’s worth, Obama state Chairman Ned Helms responded, “Every hour since Hillary Clinton lost in Iowa, her attacks have become more and more desperate. This call was in direct response to one of many 11th-hour false attacks Clinton has made at the end of the New Hampshire campaign. Our disclaimer absolutely complies with the federal law and our vendor has assured us that he scrubbed the list for people on the Do Not Call registry. However, if this call went to someone who should not have received it, we will make sure the vendor takes every step to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”

Filed under: Z-TDB Blog