It’s only the first week in January, and we’ve only seen one actual contest, but I suspect it’s stories like this one that make a lot of political observers wish the primary season was already over.
The Clinton campaign, throwing the kitchen sink, released a statement from a supporter, Sandy Keans, who got the Obama robo-call, despite being on the state’s do-not-call list.
They also say the call’s form doesn’t comply with federal law, an argument into which I don’t feel qualified to venture.
Robo-calls are a real issue in New Hampshire, but this one isn’t blowing away the national press, as represented by Ana Marie Cox, who also has the full Clinton release.
By all indications, the Clinton campaign is taking all of this pretty seriously, hosting a conference call last night with reporters to “discuss the legal issues associated with the Obama campaign’s illegal activity.”
So, is there anything to this? The closer one looks at the flap, the thinner it appears.
It started a few weeks ago, when the Clinton campaign went after Obama for voting “present” on some abortion-related legislation in the Illinois State Senate. The criticism was misleading — Obama’s votes were strategic, and encouraged by the Illinois Planned Parenthood Council and Chicago NOW.
Over the weekend, the Clinton campaign kept up the criticism anyway, suggesting that Obama was not reliably pro-choice, reality notwithstanding. Hoping to nip this in the bud, the Obama campaign has responded with robo-calls from Wendy Frosh, chair of the board of Planned Parenthood, Northern New England. She tells voters:
“As people have begun to rally around Barack Obama’s call for change, the false attacks have begun. As a leader and activist on reproductive rights for more than 20 years, I know the facts. Barack has a 100 percent pro-choice record, and has always been a champion for women’s rights. Hillary Clinton’s last-minute smears won’t protect the right to choose. But as president, Barack Obama will. Please join me in supporting Barack Obama this Tuesday. Thank you. Paid for by Obama for America.”
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.”
Like I said, it’s a little thin.
