This past weekend I received on my home line a call from John Dennis, the Republican long-shot candidate challenging House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. It was a recorded message in which he blamed her for “no jobs” and out-of-control debt. He warned that she “wants to raise your taxes.” But after the rant, a live voice came on, a woman named Susan, who asked if I would now participate in a survey. There was but one question: “Would America be better off without Nancy Pelosi?”
Sure, I said to Susan. But first I had a question for her: who did she work for? Her first response: John Dennis for Congress. Nah, I said. You’re not in his campaign office, you’re obviously working for a firm he’s hired. Which one? Infocision Management Corporation, she said. (The firms’s website boasts it is “THE highest quality call center company in the world.”) And what list are you using? I asked Susan. A series of lists, she said. Which one had my name and number, I enquired politely. “We have your name because you’ve supported conservative causes and campaigns,” she said.
“I don’t think so,” I replied. Without missing a beat, she said, “You may have done more than you realize.”
Perhaps. But probably not.
In any event, this call from the Dennis campaign caused me to wonder if he’s wasting lots of money using lousy lists with names of unlikely potential donors across the country.
After courteously answering my questions, Susan asked if we could return to the survey question. Sure, I said. She put it to me again, and I said that I doubted America would be better off without Pelosi. In a flash, she thanked me and hung up.
