Voters report push-polling in Iowa

[ProSense]

Voters report push-polling in Iowa

By David Espo
AP Special Correspondent / December 31, 2007

DES MOINES, Iowa—In the final days of a close campaign, likely caucus-goers in Iowa report receiving phone calls providing unflattering information about all three major Democratic presidential hopefuls.
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Some of the calls say Sen. Barack Obama's health plan leaves millions uninsured, while others say John Edwards' plans for a troop withdrawal from Iraq is dangerous or that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton cannot defeat Republicans in the fall, according to recipients.

In each case, the recipients say a caller pretending to conduct a poll of candidate preferences begins by asking who the caucus-goer intends to support.

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Josh Earnest, a spokesman for Obama, criticized the calls.

"Negative campaign tactics like push polls don't reflect the values that are at the core of the Democratic Party and the Iowa caucuses," he said.

Aides to Edwards and Clinton had no immediate reaction.

[TexasLawyer]

1. suppressing turnout

Michael Hancock of Coralville said he had received an automated call in the last 24 hours asking him whether he planned to attend a caucus. When he indicated he was, "The next question was whether I planned to watch the BCS-Orange Bowl," a college football game scheduled to be played in Florida on caucus night.

Hancock said he hung up his phone, then said he concluded it was a "transparent attempt to depress turnout from some people."

Coralville is a suburb of Iowa City, home of U of I and Iowa's main "college town." Who would want to suppress turnout among young people? Hmmmmm....