If you can't win, cheat (Election 2006)...

Those annoying "robocalls that you may or may not be getting that seem to be from Democrats? Nope, it's Republicans, doing the same kinds of things that led one of the flock to jail after the 2004 elections.

Be warned...(crossposted at my place):

They are actually from the Republicans, attempting to annoy voters and hopefully get them to NOT vote (at all) or vote for the GOP.  Happy November Suprise!  If you can't win the election fairly, just lie, cheat, and steal...

Via TalkingPointsMemo:

More of the scam calls from the NRCC, from TPM Reader PS ...

I was canvassing in Stamford, CT for Lamont and Farrel yesterday... some of the canvassers were talking about a nasty robocall hit on Farrell, which they said people at the doors had talked about. I didn't hear that at the door personally, but I wasn't focusing on the congressional race - i was talking about Lamont primarily.

Apparently the call starts with something along the lines of "Diane Farrell has some information for you," then pauses, waiting for annoyed people to hang up, and then delivers a negative message about Farrell. The canvassers say the call has hit some people as much as 6 times, and at 5 - 6am as well. Presumably, the intent is to annoy people and stick Farrell with the negative name ID as somebody who keeps robo-calling them.

We won't be able to get to the bottom of this operation until after Tuesday, which is the point. They'll happily pay the fines for breaking the federal regs on misidentifying calls.

Locally, Jill Porter, of the Philadelphia Daily News, has a chance for you to fight fire-with-fire:

You can complain to the FCC if you think the calls are illegal, as some Murphy supporters have done. (202-418-1440, phone; 202-418-0232, fax.)

Or you can do what I briefly considered yesterday: Send the NRCC your own robocalls telling it to STOP IT!

Try www.voiceshot.com - 12 cents a call, no minimum. The NRCC's number is 202-479-7000.

The real shame of all of this is that 1.) it works, 2.) it won't be newsworthy until the election is over,  and 3.) the facts and details won't come out until the election is over.

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