Only Losers Robo-Call
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A few weeks ago, on the eve of the New York City Primary election, the campaigns for various democratic candidates robo-called me. I kept some of the recordings and posted them on this website. But I was reviewing that archive today, and I realized something. All of the candidates, whose campaigns called me, lost in the primaries. Let’s have a look.
Mayor
By far the most active caller was Christine Quinn. Her campaign called me since the early summer through the day of the election. Her campaign also sent people to knock on my door and mailed me flyers just about every day.
| Candidate | Robo-Call | Electorate Share | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bill de Blasio | No | 40.3% | Won |
| Bill Thompson | Yes | 26.2% | Lost |
| Christine Quinn | Yes | 15.5% | Lost |
| John Liu | No | 7.0% | Lost |
| Anthony Weiner | Yes | 4.9% | Lost |
Public Advocate
The first call I posted online was from the Squadron campaign. Their candidate did well enough to force a runoff but lost by 20 points to Letitia James two days ago. Either the Squadron or James campaigns (or both) called me on the day of the runoff but left no messages. It worked because it reminded me to vote that day.
| Candidate | Robo-Call | Electorate Share | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Letitia James | No | 35.9% | Won Runoff |
| Daniel Squadron | Yes | 33.1% | Lost Runoff |
| Reshma M. Saujani | No | 15.1% | Lost Primary |
| Catherine Guerriero | No | 13.1% | Lost Primary |
| Sidique A. Wai | No | 2.8% | Lost Primary |
Queens Borough President
The Vallone campaign was runner up not only to Melinda Katz in getting their candidate elected, but also second to the Quinn campaign in bugging the shit out of me. His campaign not only called me, mailed me flyers, but also used this new thing called “e-mail” to reach me. I was invited to attend fundraising events, read about his family’s scholarship fund (the original DREAM Act, as they called it), and get out to vote.
| Candidate | Robo-Call | Electorate Share | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Melinda Katz | No | 44.5% | Won |
| Peter Vallone | Yes | 33.7% | Lost |
| Everly Brown | No | 12.5% | Lost |
| Tony Avella | No | 9.3% | Lost |
What does all of this mean? I don’t know. There’s almost certainly no correlation between the robo-calls and the candidates’ failures. For one thing, I only cataloged the calls where messages were left. Most likely, the other campaigns just hung up and called back later, only to hang up again. Jerks.
In either case, it’s hard to like a candidate whose campaign calls you repeatedly. Over and over again.
