You can tell tomorrow's a big day- a huge day- and judging by the robo-calls, Mitt Romney is trying to make the most of it.
Okay, I admit it, I'm married to a former Republican. It happens- many people, upon first registering to vote, check the box by their parents' party affiliation. Luckily, once they start paying attention to politics, many of them also realize what they've checked, and quickly switch parties. Unfortunately, it seems that where robo-calls are concerned, it's "Once a Republican, always a Republican."
I admit, I seem to be lucky- I'm a newly registered Democrat, and it looks like my number isn't on too many lists yet. Either that, or the Democratic candidates aren't resorting to interrupting people's dinners. Still, if you happen to be related to a Republican, you may want to unplug the phone.
So far, I've gotten eight calls tonight, and every single one of them was recorded. Two were from Hillary (and they were identical- I'm guessing one was for me, a registered Democrat, and one for my wife, who's currently an independent.) One was a Republican push-(button)-poll. The other five were all for Romney- one endorsement from another politician, one attack ad against McCain, and three from Mitt himself. For one of them, he even went so far as to say "Hello, (my wife's name). I'm Mitt Romney..."
You kind of have to wonder about that last one. I'm imagining Mitt, standing by a microphone, running down a list of names:
"Hello Aaron."
"Hello Alan."
"Hello Amber..."
I'd like to hear him when he reaches the N's:
"Hello Nancy."
"Hello Nermal... what the hell? No one's named Nermal! That's from a comic strip!"
Or perhaps the Z's...
"Hello Zachary."
"Hello Zebadiah."
"Hello Zena! Ohh, sexy name! Am I done? Yes! Get me a drink! Huh? Water, you moron! My throat is croak!"
So, why do I even bother answering the phone? Morbid curiosity, I guess, and probably a faint hope to gain some amusement as the Republicans rip themselves apart.
My one fear, though, is that these calls will continue late into the night. No one wants a robot calling them at 11:00 when they've got to work tomorrow. I hear Obama's campaign is using live callers- I'd like to get one of those. At least they have some sympathy. The rest of the candidates must really love their machines.
How about all of you? Will you be as happy as I am, once tomorrows over? Once the phone stops ringing?