Some Dirty Little Secrets

Since I am now in control of this media empire, I thought it would be interesting over the next few days to share some stories about being a candidate. For example, the general public is growing frustrated with the increasing number of automated phone calls from politicians ("robocalls" as they are known in campaign speak). I hear complaints all the time and am quite happy our District 18 slate did not use them. However, as a candidate, you must suffer through not only the same robocalls everyone else gets but daily robocalls from robocall vendors advertising robocalls. Imagine the number you receive times two or three.

As microtargeting becomes the rage in politics and campaigns, we candidates have become our own special marketing segment.

As an aside, I recently heard a story from the proud mother of a robocall professional who told me that her son had developed an innovative way to use these calls for good. To help with his sister's wedding, he assembled the cell phone numbers for as many of the guests as he could get. He then entered the numbers in his database and scheduled them for a phone call five minutes before the wedding was to begin. The message heard by the recipient, "Please turn off your cell phone. The wedding is about to begin." Now that is a useful robocall!

Next up: candidate questionnaires.