Automated calls flood South Carolina voters

Columbia, South Carolina: First, the TV ads. Then, the mailers. And now, in the final days before South Carolina's primary, the pitches are coming ever more frequently by phone: Vote for me over the other guys — and here's why.

To a seemingly far greater degree than in Iowa and New Hampshire, Republican presidential candidates and their allies are peppering voters in South Carolina with pre-recorded phone messages, called robocalls in shorthand.

"If you're a Republican in the broadest sense, there is only one place to go right now and that's Mitt Romney," a Romney message says. In another, a woman from Massachusetts vouches for Romney's credentials opposing abortion, saying: "I've seen him facing down hostile lawmakers every time they tried to fight their pro-choice agenda. ... He worked hard for our cause in Massachusetts and he deserves pro-life support."

And top Romney surrogates like Arizona Senator John McCain and South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley are calling on his behalf, urging voters to turn out for campaign events and at the polls.

It's not just Romney.

There's also the Leesville pastor who twangs through a script noting that Representative Ron Paul, an obstetrician before he became a congressman, delivered a lot of babies and will keep federal judges out of abortion issues.

Newt Gingrich has been assailing Romney via voice message. Santorum, meanwhile, has tried to take the high road, condemning "these kind of smear campaigns and these smarmy robocalls."

Federal law prohibits commercial automated calls but makes exceptions for politics and marketing. In the political realm, there are requirements — seldom enforced — that prevent campaigns from spoofing or faking the caller ID information. Campaigns also must disclose who is paying for the call.

Heavy levels

In some cases, the level of calls is so heavy that some South Carolina Republicans have reported getting several a day in the run-up to tomorrow's primary.

There's a risk to the calls: Voters may find them annoying and be turned off by the flood of messages filling voice mail boxes.