Top of the News

Chosen and ranked by Crosscut editors. Click date for previous days.

Mouse over headline for description.

more top of the news

Advertisement

Advertisement

The Crosscut Blog »

Feb 8, 2008 10:20 AM | last updated Feb 8, 2008 11:45 AM
Election 2008.
Advertisement
Advertisement

What? Are the caucuses on Sunday?

By Austin Jenkins

Editor's note: This item has been updated since it was first posted, to include an explanation from the Obama campaign.

Oops. Barack Obama's campaign for president in Washington is recovering from an embarrassing slip-up. Thursday, the campaign made Get Out The Caucus (GOTC) calls to an undisclosed number of voters.

This is what the calls said:

Hello I'm calling on behalf of the Barack Obama campaign to remind you to caucus for Barack Sunday, Feb. 10. If you have questions on where to caucus or what time, please call 866-675-2008 or visit barackobama.com. Thank you.

Do you notice something wrong? The message tells voters to caucus on Sunday, not Saturday, Feb. 9.

Olympia-area Barack Obama supporter Rhys Roth was alarmed when he heard the call on his answering machine: "I thought that was very odd and I was really concerned that someone is sending out misinformation."

There have been cases of insurgent robocalls. But that's not what happened here.

According to a statement from the Obama campaign: "Phoners who had been calling into Maine, which holds its caucus on Sunday, mistakenly gave the wrong date to a relatively small universe of voters in Washington state. The problem has been resolved, and those voters are being called back with the correct information."

Roth, the Obama voter who got one of the calls, says the foul-up is understanding: "In a campaign this enormous nationally people do make mistakes."

Comments
Three words:
Report a violationPosted by: dbreneman on Feb 8, 2008 10:33 AM
Clinton War Room
RE: Three words:
Report a violationPosted by: bigyaz on Feb 8, 2008 11:27 AM
dbreneman: The Obama campaign has owned up to the error. But it's a lot more fun to take uninformed cheap shots, isn't it?
small universe?
Report a violationPosted by: Spike on Feb 9, 2008 12:17 PM
LOL. Somebody should tell those Easterners that there is more than their little universe. The "small universe" of Washington is a heck of a lot larger than the "universe" of voters in the State of Maine. I find I get increasingly irritated by the East Coast bias revealed by words such as these. Do you think that Obama would rather have the voters in Kittery Point or in Seattle?
Advertisement
Advertisement

Sign up for Crosscut's free weekday newsletter e-mail.
About Crosscut
Advertising Info
Crosscut's list of RSS feeds.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement


About Crosscut »
Crosscut Seattle is an online newspaper for the Pacific Northwest, including Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and British Columbia. It's a guide to local and regional news, a place to report and discuss news, and a platform for new tools to convey news.

• More about Crosscut

Contact Crosscut

Tools

Sign up for Crosscut's daily newsletter
About Crosscut
Advertising Info
Crosscut's list of RSS feeds.
Advertisement