Charleston, South Carolina (CNN) - Dinnertime be damned.
Phones in South Carolina rang incessantly (or annoyingly, depending on your view) throughout the week, as the presidential campaigns and their supporters auto-dialed Republicans across the state ahead of Saturday’s primary.
It's a big day for politics in South Carolina Saturday on CNN. Tune in at 4 p.m. ET to see the candidates debate the issues from Thursday night's edge-of-your-seat debate then, at 6 p.m. ET, CNN's special live coverage of the South Carolina primary begins. See the results as they come in on on CNN, CNN.com/Live and the CNN mobile apps.
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One Republican voter in Columbia, who did not want his name printed, arrived home late Friday to find eleven different political messages waiting on his answering machine.
For a flavor of what South Carolina voters were facing this week, the voter provided a recording of those calls to CNN.
Here’s a list, in order, of what showed up on his machine in the course of a just few hours on Friday:
1) A call from “Restore Our Future” – a super PAC supporting Mitt Romney – claiming that Newt Gingrich’s political “baggage” is “good for Obama, bad for America”
2) A call from Ron Paul’s campaign affirming his support for Israel (the recording says Paul wants the United States to be “friends with Israel, not her master”)
3) A call from the Paul campaign explaining the candidate's staunch opposition to abortion
4) Another call from the Paul campaign recorded by a top supporter, South Carolina state Rep. Tom Davis, touting the congressman's fiscally conservative record in Washington
5) A turnout call from the Romney campaign urging voters to show up to the polls on Saturday
6) Yet another call from the Paul campaign accusing Gingrich of opposing “right-to-work” legislation and saying nice things about Andy Stern, the former president of the Service Employees International Union
7) A call from the Romney campaign that replays, almost in its entirely, an ad that Gingrich cut with Nancy Pelosi to promote at Al Gore-backed climate change campaign
8) A call from Tony Perkins, the head of the conservative Family Research Council, encouraging voters to look at a web site outlining the GOP candidates’ positions on various social issues
9) A call from “Restore Our Future” attacking Gingrich’s “half-baked” policy ideas
10) A call from Ann Romney vouching for her husband’s character
11) A call from the National Organization for Marriage attacking Paul, claiming he “would do nothing” to protect traditional marriage between a man and a woman
Also see:
Gingrich adviser predicts 4-6 point win in South Carolina
Santorum's South Carolina closer
From CNN Politics
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Paul, Romney, Santorum are at least decent people. Gingrich the bullying guy? Are you kidding us?
Three 'primaries', three different winners. It looks like this will go down to the wire and many will be unhappy.
“ad that Gingrich cut with Nancy Pelosi to promote at Al Gore-backed climate change campaign” this wont change voters mind they knew already
Just hang up to these idiotic calls. Last time, these idiots calls were linking President to Muslim, and Terrorist. Do they know it Obama that ordered killing Osama Bin Laden? Obama2012.
Wow. I thought Mittens "The Richer" had this all sewn up. It would REALLY SUCK to be beaten by Newt "The Womanizer" Gingrich. I am a staunch liberal, but if I had to vote GOP I would pick Mittens. He looks less sleazy than Newt, who creeps me out.
Listen to enough of this crap and it all just becomes white noise. Every candidate has something nasty to say about someone else, who at the same time is saying something nasty about him. It all evens out to blah. . . blah. . . blah. . . .
I'm expecting Newt the pompous windbag to win. The extreme Republican intolerable right - "Christians" - do not want a Mormon candidate. Better Newt than Santorum.
I just heard this described as a horse race.
Doesn't really matter which horses-a$$ wins or loses in South Carolina – Obama will win in November.
Have you ever felt remorse?
Do you take responsibility for your actions?
When you are driving do you care about the lives of the people in the cars next to you and do not want to harm them?
Does it make you sick that a political party in America is defined by hate and deception and its representatives and voters wish harm and even death to those Americans who hold different political views than 'dem?
If the answer is yes to any one of these questions then you have a moral obligation to vote Republican, thanks for your Republican vote and your desire to defeat hate and lies.
Slammed by phone calls yesterday and today, and slammed by severe weather today. I wouldn't be too surprised if the turnout was significantly less than in previous years, especially for the casual voters who will be happy with any of the Republican Candidates. Only the true partisans for any candidate will be out in threat of severe thunderstorms or tornados.
Hmmmm... Tornados in January. From what I remember of how weather patterns work, don't you need warmer weather than usual to generate the updrafts needed for these storms? Can't be global warming. None of the remaining candidates believe in it. This must be an act of Divine Providence to keep the unworthy from the polls.
SC Uses Diebold Black Box Voting State Wide! National Security Lab Hacks Diebold Touch-Screen Voting Machine by Remote Control With $26 in Computer Parts: EXCLUSIVE story at Salon. Diebold machine uses standard mini-bar key found everywhere! Florida ditches Diebold after numerous voting irregularities and now uses verifiable paper ballets!
Isn't any call involving Flipper the Elitist Robot a "robo-call"?
DOUG
I can answer YES to everyone of those questions. However, I can't imagine any REP. answering yes. War mongers, not willing to help those in need, and most are racists.
Did you take toys at Christmas to the Salvation Army, food to a soup kitchen, or pay off lay-away for a needy family who couldn't afford to get theirs?? Well I did-and I'm darn proud to be a Dem.
OBAMA/BIDEN/ 2012
P.S. I'm a white Christian too.
They called me to! And I don't even live there!
I see the people of south carolina only needs a nominee to beat president obama and never mind on that double digit unemployment
Just listened to some of your concession speech, and couldn't turn the radio off fast enough. Just like your opponents, you're long winded, pointless, meaningless and self absorbed. You and your followers are the purist example of what's wrong with the nation, You are completely worthless.
All I got were calls from Santorums team. I wanted one from Newt's so I could ask how being President would work with his book tour! That's all Newt did around here was sign his book (I didn't even know he could read, let alone write)! I think its called "A Fridge too Far" or "I'll changed wives or religion to get elected". Can't remember which...