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Wall Street Journal's Political Perceptions

(Wall Street Journal)

Political Wisdom: McCain’s Own Preacher Problem

Here’s a summary of the smartest new political analysis on the Web:
by Sara Murray and Gerald F. Seib

Stateline.org’s Vicki Ekstrom points out a little-noticed change in the rules of campaigning: “More than a dozen states already have laws banning or limiting robo-calls in some way, for example, restricting when or how often they can be made.” Robo-calls are those pre-recorded messages to voters that are blasted out automatically to massive lists of homes, and they have become increasingly popular as a way to turn out voters. Ekstrom noes: “In Oregon, where a bill passed in January added political robo-calls to the state’s do-not-call registry, the Clinton and Obama campaigns illegally robo-called voters anyway before the May 20 presidential primary. The campaigns apologized, stopped the calls and will not be fined, according to the attorney general’s office.”