I know a few readers are tiring of the push-poll story, and I get the feeling it’s just stirring uglier and angrier accusations – everybody feels like their guy is being unfairly maligned and hit by baseless suspicion… and everybody thinks their least favorite figure is probably ultimately responsible.
Still, a rival campaign was irked that early stories that quoted certain Iowans describing the calls – two ladies in particular didn’t disclose their role in the Romney campaign. (Justin Hart, a Romney backer, notes that the ladies in question are (ahem) mature retirees – septuagenarians, in fact – and so make unlikely suspects to be part of a conspiratorial effort to get a particular message into campaign coverage.) There are still four other individuals who described the calls who have no known ties to Romney.
Perhaps the reporters who interviewed them deserve a rap on the knuckles for not disclosing the two ladies’s paid roles with the campaign, or perhaps Kevin Madden didn’t make that clear enough when he put reporters in touch with the ladies. Having said that, here’s his response…
I guess our opponents are never absent a newly invented angle with which they will seek to satisfy their appetite for conspiracy.
There were a number of folks who notified the campaign about these calls when they first occurred who are affiliated with the campaign as grassroots organizers. It’s obviously a statistical probability that supporters of the governor would receive these calls.
When media inquiries came in asking to talk to folks who received the calls, and whether they were available the describe them, we did provide the names of supporters who were willing to talk to reporters.
Obviously, it would be hard for us to identify people who received calls who are not supporters, since they are unlikely to notify us.
Also, we’ve also made sure to identify other individuals who are not affiliated with the campaign in any way for additional media inquiries.
So for most of my readers, there’s something to be thankful for this Thanksgiving: No one’s accused you of being the malevolent, Voldemortian force behind the push polling.
Yet.