This morning, I received a call from someone from the Jack Evans campaign. After picking up the phone and saying "hello?", I was met with a barrage of information about Jack's tireless work ethic on behalf of Citizens Like Me. Of course, I had nary the opportunity to get a word in edgewise throughout the spiel.
After finishing, the woman at the other end of the line, apparently satisfied with her rhetorical acumen, asked if we would be voting for Mr. Evans in the upcoming primary.
I hedged. Although the 14thandYous have pretty much made up our minds regarding who we're going to support in the Ward 2 council race, we aren't inclined to share that information with campaign workers and pollsters. So, I made the decision to classify our voting status in that Great American Way: undecided.
"Actually, we haven't given a lot of thought to who we're supporting," I said.
"So you're undecided then?" the Evans pollster responded.
"Um, sure, I guess we are." I replied, prepared to be hit with an endless stream of Jack Evans accomplishments in an attempt to woo my vote over to the good side of the force. As it was, however, my fears were all for nought.
"Oh, so you're undecided then," the woman replied, with all of the charisma one might expect from a sports announcer of two cellar-dwelling cricket teams involved in a meaningless preseason match. "Thank you."
CLICK
So I'm really not sure what to make of this. True, I saved a few minutes of my time by not having Evans' CV recited to me over the phone by a campaign worker not particularly interested in conversation. On the other hand, it seems as though Mr. Evans' campaign isn't particularly concerned about making any efforts to converse with undecided voters, for reasons on which I can only speculate. Are they looking to pick fights only with Cary Silverman supporters? Do they only want to engage in spirited debate with those who agree with them?
Who knew that being undecided could get you off the hook so easily?
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Jack Evans: Undecided on "Undecideds"?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
Turnout is going to be painfully low for the election, so rather than waste time convincing undecideds, they're probably just putting all their effort into getting supporters to show up and vote.
You think? This is the first semi-competitive race in Ward 2 in years. Perhaps from Jack Evans' perspective he doesn't feel like he needs to "waste time" courting undecided voters, but these local elections can turn on vote differences of very, very few.
Basically the exact thing happened to me. The whole rundown and then, "Have you decided who you're voting for for Ward 2?" "Uh, no, I'm not sure yet." "Okay" [Click]
I had the same "waiting for the onslaught" transitioned to just plain confused reaction as well. I'll have to give this "undecided" thing a shot for future uninvited calls.
I had a different experience...over the past few days the phone has been ringing nonstop, and the caller ID read: 000-000-0000. So, I passed on picking it up. Cut to incessant: 000-000-0000 -- I lunged for the phone upon receiving a call from said number again. (I mean, could it be - Satan?!)
But no, a Jack Evans campaign worker was on the other line and launched into her schpiel even before the comple 'O' in "hello" had escaped my lips. She asked if I'd be voting for Mr. Evans and after reading her the laundry list of campaign calls received, informed her that he had indeed lost my vote.
*click!*
These are what are known as "ID calls" -- made to find out who is persuadable, who is already with you, and who isn't worth your time. Saying you are "undecided" is like putting a sign in your yard that says "please, please come talk to me and convince me to vote for your candidate." It's fine if you want more information, but not a good way to get people to leave you alone.
Post a Comment