] It's no secret that Dean has faced some nasty
] robo-calling and push-polling in Iowa and NH, as well as
] NM and elsewhere. This exerpt from an upcoming GQ article
] gives a glimpse of what Dean has faced over the last few
] weeks:
]
] Fast forward to the days before IA: Trippi's "cell phone
] rings. It's his pollster, Paul Maslin, who not only has
] bleak news out of Iowa -- but bleak news out of New
] Hampshire. Trippi hangs up and stares out the window. His
] phone rings again. "WHAT? Aw, fuck. I hate this business.
] This fucking sucks. Okay, thanks." He hangs up. "They're
] robocalling our ones," he moans. "He has just gotten a
] report from the field that Dean "ones" are getting
] bombarded with computer-generated phone calls telling
] them to make sure to caucus for Dean-then giving them the
] wrong address." Who would do such a thing? "Kerry,"
] Trippi snaps. "They're the only asshole snake campaign
] that would do it. Every frickin' day now, I'm reminded of
] why I got out of this in the first place."
]
] The Dean campaign keeps fingering the Kerry camp, and
] it's hard to see who else might be responsible.
]
] The calls were targeted at Dean in Iowa and NH -- the two
] states that were must-wins for both Dean and Kerry.
] Gephardt might've been behind a robo-calling effort in
] Iowa, but he'd have no reason to do the same in NH.
]
] Who else, the Republicans? Problem is that by all
] reports, these robo calls have specifically targeted
] Dean's "1s" and "2s". That level of sophistication would
] require an extent of polling unlikely from the GOP. Only
] Kerry would have conducted the type of polling
] identifying levels of support for Dean in both Iowa and
] NH.
]
] So it's all anecdotal, but the evidence suggests dirty
] tricks from the Kerry campaign. The thought literally
] makes me want to puke (some of the calls suggest Dean is
] not a real Christian because he's married to a Jew). None
] of the other candidates have faced this type of puke
] tactics, so there's only one guy engaging in it.
]
] God help Kerry if real evidence emerges.

I feel ill of the effects on our party, if this is true.

] Fast forward to the days before IA: Trippi's "cell phone
] rings. It's his pollster, Paul Maslin, who not only has
] bleak news out of Iowa -- but bleak news out of New
] Hampshire. Trippi hangs up and stares out the window. His
] phone rings again. "WHAT? Aw, fuck. I hate this business.
] This fucking sucks. Okay, thanks." He hangs up. "They're
] robocalling our ones," he moans. "He has just gotten a
] report from the field that Dean "ones" are getting
] bombarded with computer-generated phone calls telling
] them to make sure to caucus for Dean-then giving them the
] wrong address."

[ circumstantial evidence points to John Kerry being the perpetrator of this activity, but of course, there's nothing solid. As far as i've seen this hasn't broken out of the blogs yet, but if it does, and actual proof is found, there's gonna be a fricking shitstorm. There were some seriously filthy politics ("Dean's married to a JEW!" type stuff among the rest) going on in Iowa and NH. Whether it was just some overzealous and misguided tools or an actual campaign remains to be seen. ]-k