They come in waves, the “No Caller ID” calls. Sometimes just two or three a week. Lately it’s as many as five, six a day. And it will probably get worse as Congressional campaigns kick into high gear for 2016.
I sometimes block them, but am going through some family medical situations at the moment where I’ve missed some important calls because of my overzealous attempts to block the telemarketers.
Today — a Sunday — I finally relented and picked up and spoke to the caller. A young man who launched into his long robo-breathless script about how Russ Feingold (D-WI) sure is counting on me for his support right now in 2016.
I live in Brooklyn. And I have never donated directly to Sen. Feingold’s in the past.
What I did do, eight years ago, in mid-2008, was make a generous donation to ActBlue, inspired by a pitch here on DailyKos, recognizing the power of the moment and the efficiency of ActBlue. It’s marvelous really. Other keener minds than mine selected the 20 progressive Dem candidates nationwide who were running good campaigns and could actually win. I only needed to enter my personal and credit card info, and press Donate. I donated $500, or $25 per candidate in my particular case. I honestly don’t remember if Russ Feingold was among them but he probably was. Or maybe not; maybe donor lists are traded and sold and borrowed. I'm under few illusions about what it takes to win these things.
I don’t know the exact number of fundraising calls my personal cell phone has been hit up for since then. It was pretty bad in 2010, 2012, 2014. But if I had to guess?
Probably upwards of 1,000. (Plus quite a lot of snail-mail from several campaigns, most notably the candidate in Montana.)
I do sometimes (like today) answer, speak, and politely ask to be taken off the list. But somehow the calls keep coming. It’s been like a losing game of whack-a-mole. Maybe there’s a data bank that knows I gave repeatedly to Obama, both in 2008 and 2012. And just as repeatedly to a Dem vs Tea Party race here in NY state, in 2010. I don’t know.
But I will say this. Please support ActBlue; it is indeed a highly efficient way to aim for max impact nationwide from your donation.
But for your own future sanity, don’t give them your real actual personal cell #. No, no, no. Give them some other # if they insist on it. Don’t make my mistake!