A Branford man picked up his telephone Monday night to find a political pollster on the other end.
The conversation started innocently as the caller asked whether the state was going in the right direction and how he felt about the races for governor and the U.S. Senate. But as soon as the Branford man said he was voting for New Haven Mayor John DeStefano instead of Stamford Mayor Dannel Malloy in the Democratic gubernatorial primary, the conversation abruptly turned to a series of anti-DeStefano questions.
...
What the pollster did not know was that the Branford man was Sam Gejdenson, the former U.S. House member who has publicly endorsed DeStefano.(Keating)
The Malloy campaign denies involvement, but they're coming under pressure from the DeStefano campaign:
[Malloy campaign manager Chris] Cooney said Malloy supporters have received anti-Malloy telephone calls recently, but he said he was not making the assumption that the calls were generated by the DeStefano campaign. DeStefano's spokesman, Derek Slap, denied that the campaign had made any anti-Malloy calls.
"They need to come clean," Slap said. "We'd expect this from Karl Rove, but not from Dan Malloy. Are they calling Sam Gejdenson a liar?" (Keating)
I would hope they'd not be dumb enough to push poll Sam Gejdenson, but I guess you never know. What's interesting, but not all that surprising, is that both sides, or people supporting both sides, are engaging in this kind of behavior. It's a strange race when both sides seem desperate.
Source
KEating, Christopher. "Guess Who's On The Line?." Hartford Courant 26 July, 2006.
29 comments:
who's Sam Gejdenson?
This is no surprise. Connecticut Democrats have always been dirty campaigners. They usually like to point the finger out everybody else but now they have turned dirty against themselves. I guess they’re just staying in shape for the General election.
Hey, I wonder if they can find a way to blame Bush for this?
There have been a lot of discussions on the blogs about whether or not Connecticut campaigns have been ‘push-polling’. For a discussion about Malloy push-polling, check here. For a couple of discussions about Lieberman push-polling, check here and here.
In the discussions, the two firms most often mentioned are Mountain West Research Center and .
Western Wats is a member of the Council of American Survey Research Organizations (CASRO), which has ethical guidelines about surveys. You can find information about Western Wats membership in CASRO here.
Given the number of reports, it would be great to see some enterprising investigative reporter trace down who is running these polls and what questions are really being asked.
This has Roy O written all over it! Throw mud, attack your opponent's character, misrepresent the facts all behind the scenes so you can deny it - nothing new here. He still hasn't won a statewide general election, and with DM & Joe as his clients this year, it looks like his perfect record will stay intact.
The focus should be on November and Rell. Lobbying rocks at your Democratic opponent may achieve a short term primary victory, but will cause unnecessary division and bad feelings among the Democratic base in an admittedly uphill General Election. However, it is legitimate and necessary to can do contrast pieces/TV with your opponent, but it must be done without trashing them. In general, DeStefano and Malloy have run clean and respectful races against each other. I hope that will continue in the remaining days before the primary. I and most Democrats want to win in November and will support whoever wins the primary.
Wait... Who's monitoring the submissions this morning... An anonymous post that refrences the Governor to Hitler makes it through as intelligent discourse... c'mon.
I believe that one was satire, Anonymous.
chris mc: your defense of DM is admirable, but please get real! You are calling Sam G a liar - on what basis can I ask? Do you really believe that this type of negative push polling is beneath DM and his "professional staff". If so, you stand alone. This is boilerplate, campaign 101. This isn't even advanced. Go positive publicly with your campaign ads that have your name on it - that way JDS supporters won't be mad at you after the primary - but go negative behind the scenes and deny that it was you. C'mon. What color is the sky in your world - purple? Nice try though.
Chris, your shilling for Malloy has gotten to the point where I think you're being paid by them.
http://www.courant.com/news/local/hc-gejdenson0726.artjul26,0,3537985.story?coll=hc-headlines-local
There's an article in the Courant. Do you think Chris Keating is just out to trash Malloy now? Is it everyone?
If Malloy is behind the push polls, then it's an attack ad. And it must be Malloy, because you've stated on numerous occasions that Jodi Rell is terrified of Dan Malloy. So she couldn't possibly be worried about John DeStefano.
Sam Gedjensen isn't lying. He got the call. Others have gotten the call. It's one thing to go negative - it's another thing to lie. Malloy lied about his job numbers - as proven by the NH Register - why wouldn't they lie about this push poll?
Anon 10:10..you told Chris Mc about campaigns 101..he wouldnt know since he hasn't ever worked on one..
Sam Gejdenson was a taxi driver who usually sat outside New Haven's Union Station panhandling for change and professing the imminent end of the world.
All opinions on candidates aside, its been mentioned on these blogs that people have gotten similar calls about Malloy. This might be just semantics to some, but its only push polling if the poll is just a front to get a message out. In all likelihood, these guys are both doing real polls that include questions on what messaging would help them sway votes away from their opponent, and that isnt push polling.
There is less then 2 weeks to go for the primary and all polls have JDS with a substantial lead of DM...and all Chris can spin about is this?...talk about being desperate.
Why shouldn't Sam call a reporter? He's a former Congressman, and here's an amateur attack on his guy. It's his right to defend him anyway he feels necessary.
It's the same thing you do everyday for Malloy on the blogs, Chris. Except reporters don't answer your phone calls. But they answer Sam Gedjensen's.
Yes, It’s only push polling if the poll is just a front to get a message out and push polling produces predictable backlash. Unfortunately, for both Malloy and Lieberman, politics is also all about perceptions, and the perception that is growing in the blogs and now in the mainstream media is that the polls that they are running are just a front to get a negative message out, and this is producing a predictable backlash against both their campaigns.
It may be that the polls are created to test the effect of a negative message, but repeating a negative message and then asking how substantially it decreases the respondent’s view of the target is a poorly constructed poll that promotes that perception.
chris mc - wouldn't it just be a lot easier if you just said: "Listen, I trust the Malloy guys when they tell me they are not push polling; but if they are doing it, it is wrong and should stop. Just as it would be wrong if JDS were doing it." Instead we get endless spin. I admit it was funny, at first, but now it is tedious. Enough.
The push poll was probably one of Genius Roy O's moves...he hasnt won a race yet..small wonder why.
This is the State of The Democratic party and they wonder why they will not elect a Democratic Governor and will keep us for another four years.
I blame all the Liberals in the Party for this disaster and Ned Lamont/Tom Swan and Keith Crane why cant these guys tell the truth that they are DFA Members and that their anti war message is destroying the party.
But DeStefano is no innocent bystander I knew he and that meathead ex Newsman that he has as his Press Secretary would come up with a dirty trick They couldnt win the convention fair and square so now they are going to try and sneak in the backdoor.
It is going to be a pleasure in November to either not vote at all or vote Republican because you liberals should be ashamed for putting your trust in a man like Ned Lamont who is just buying The Senate Seat and i hope Joe wipes the floor with him in November as an Independent and then you Liberals can go back to whatever Rock you crawled out from under and I bet dump joe.com is pulled off the internet within 72 hours of Lamont's defeat in November and we will never hear of Keith Crane or The Dummies for America ever again.
Go Malloy,Glassman and Lieberman!!!
Support Our troops Keep our state and country moving forward!!!!!!
Anon..you're argument would be almost halfway plausible if liberals ran for governor the last 16 years..unfortunately for you all ( even curry) were and ran as moderates.
For your information both Swan and Keith Crane are members of DFA..you can tell who all the members are by the red armbands worn on the right arm and their secret handshakes...and when addressing a person you have to utter the secret DFA word.." Howard Dean"
Yes Chris..and DM is at least 20 points behind JDS and that spread is growing every day...we will save you a seat on the JDS bus to the capital my friend..right next to your good pal Keith Crane.
Chris MC knows what he is talking about!!!When compared to The DFA Posse who is supporting Ned Lamont who thinks he is Daddy Warbucks with the amount of cash he is throwing around like a rich dentist.
Ned Lamont is a product of Lowell P Weicker Jr in fact he is the stand in Because The Bear knew he would get his butt kicked in by Lieberman.
You can thank Ned Lamont and The Liberals for focusing all the attention away from the Governor's Race I am sure Jodi Rell, Michael Fedele, George Gallo and the entire GOP party thank you DFA Losers for supporting Ned Flanders oh I mean Ned Lamont.
Dan Malloy and Mary Glassman are the only Democrats who will lead us to a better future for our State.
John DeStefano is a poor candidate and his performance at The Democratic State Convention or lack of it is proof in the pudding What kind of Governor he will be. If he can lie to people about who he was going to pick for Lt Governor and lead people on for days and weeks and even during the convention.
Picking Scott Slifka for Lt Governor to appease Kevin Sullivan for his endorsement just proves he didnt take the time to find a quality runningmate. he just wanted to please West Hartford and their Town Chairwoman who I am sure wants to be a DeStefano hack and have a seat at the table.
The Future of The Democratic Party is at stake Do you want Tom Swan and Keith Crane taking over DSCC with some self appointed hacks which will make John Rowland and Company look like choirboys in comparsion.
Your vote does count do not let DFA or the Lamont Groupies destroy The Democratic Party. Vote for The Endorsed Slate of Dan Malloy,Mary Glassman and Joe Lieberman.
Lets just say no to John DeStefano,Scott Slifka,Ned Lamont,Tom Swan, Keith Crane and The DFA Army lets send them home on August 8th.
Vote for the Real Democratic Party not this Liberal one that DFA is pushing down our throats.
chris mc - please tell me how you define ethical campaign behavior? I know personally that DM promised many in Fairfield County that he was against the estate tax and he used that position to raise money. (If you try to deny this then the truth means absolutely nothing to you.) When called on his position by JDS, DM denied that position and even said, through his spokesperson that such an idea was "silly". Is that ethical? Say one thing to one crowd and the opposite to another? He is certainly not the first political candidate to use such tactics, nor will he be the last. The fact is, he did it. How does that fit on your moral compass?
Have't received the call, but two things seem obvious:
I don't want to question Sam, but he is a JDS supporter, so any claim of a push poll must be taken with a grain of salt.
Two: the report doesn't actually describe a push poll. I know this debate has raged over a bunch of different blogs. A push poll is not a negative phone call. A push poll is where a party asks a question for which the answer is irrelevant. The purpose and structure of the question is to impart negative and generally false information.
Anon. 5:00 said: "A push poll is not a negative phone call. A push poll is where a party asks a question for which the answer is irrelevant. The purpose and structure of the question is to impart negative and generally false information."
What???? If the purpose is to impart negative and generally false info, then it is a negative call.
Push polls are legitimate if done fairly, and are designed to "push" the person on the end of the call toward voting for your candidate. For example, a legitimate push poll question could be: "Would you be more or less likely to vote for Sen. Lieberman if you knew that he supported Pres. Bush's war resolution?" Or, "Would you be more or less likely to vote for Ned Lamont if you knew that he was opposed to Pres. Bush's war in Iraq and believes that it was a terrible waste of taxpayer money?"
Those are two rather amatuer, but still legitimate "push" questions. Moreover, if the information is true and accurate then it is fair game, even if it is perceieved to be "negative".
The questions described by former Rep. Sam G. are not of the type described above, but of a much more negative variety where facts and figures are taken way out of context.
It's interesting to see the discussion about this. I was actually surprised to get what at least _felt_ like a push-poll from Lieberman about 2 weeks ago. The polling firm was the Mountain West one mentioned above. It was a very well done push poll... it stayed neutral for about 90% of the call, asked a number of fair questions on all the primary races, and then right at the end threw in a "Would you be more likely to vote for Lieberman if you knew that he did [insert long list of good deeds here that I can't remember]." It then followed this up with a "Would you be less likely to vote for Lamont if you knew he [insert long list of evil deeds here]."
Anyway, I was pretty disappointed to get it from Joe (who I was on the fence about voting for at the time)... while it's not an outwardly nasty way to campaign, it's pretty underhanded and manipulative. Sorry to hear Malloy is (might be?) using such things - I was hoping he'd consider a push poll to be over the line.
Sam Who?
Sam would not lie!
It's amazing how little time DeStefano is spending on the issues these days and instead trashing Malloy via the push polling controversy; meanwhile, DeStefano's team is sending out some really nasty mailings (when all you'd get from Malloy's mailins was a small box comparing the two candidate's ideas.
If I were Jodi Rell, I'd send a big, fat bouquet of flowers to John DeStefano's office.
Sam G. wouldn't tell a lie. Right, he lied about living in the Second District in Bozrah for years. I should know I lived in Bozrah and I know he didn't. People we keep track of, the 2 million chickens are more problemmatic -- hope there is no avian flue outbreak.
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