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Obama supporters drown out media messages opposing their candidate(Chicago Tribune (KRT) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Much of Barack Obama's political success can be traced to a database listing contact information for millions of people, a tool that has proven invaluable in raising record sums of money and organizing a national volunteer network. Now Obama's presidential campaign is increasingly using the list to beat back media messages it does not like, calling on supporters to flood radio and television stations when opponents run anti-Obama ads or appear on talk shows. It did so as recently as Monday night when it orchestrated a massive stream of complaints on the phone lines of Tribune Company-owned WGN in Chicago when the radio station hosted author David Freddoso, who has written a controversial book about the Illinois Democrat. Called the Obama Action Wire, the latest use of the database is proving yet another new and potentially powerful tactic in the closing weeks of a campaign that has already been dominated by Internet-based messages and media. The aggressive rebuttals are very much informed by Obama's determination to avoid being victimized by the sort of attacks leveled against Sen. John Kerry, the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee stung by TV ads run by a group called Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. "The Action Wire serves as a means of arming our supporters with the facts to take on those who spread lies about Barack Obama and respond forcefully with the truth, whether it's an author passing off fiction as biography, a web site spreading baseless conspiracy theories or a TV station airing an ad that makes demonstrably false claims," said Obama spokesman Ben LaBolt. Sen. John McCain's campaign uses the Internet for fundraising and organization, but does not have anything like Obama's alert system to bombard a specific media outlet in real time. Obama's campaign says supporters have placed thousands of phone calls to TV and radio stations and sent even more letters to newspapers. A page on the campaign's Web site, headlined "Hit 'em where it hurts," told supporters how to complain to advertisers at stations that ran a recent anti-Obama ad. "We'll provide you with talking points on this maliciously false hit ad to help guide you through the process," the page said, citing a spot run by a conservative group called the American Issues Project. The campaign says supporters sent roughly 100,000 e-mails in August to stations that aired the ad, which criticized Obama for his ties to former 1960s radical William Ayers. (EDITORS: BEGIN OPTIONAL TRIM) WGN was also flooded with calls and e-mails shortly before and during an Aug. 27 interview with Stanley Kurtz, a conservative writer who has examined Obama's ties to Ayers. "WGN radio is giving right-wing hatchet man Stanley Kurtz a forum to air his baseless, fear-mongering terrorist smears," read the first message confronting the station, an e-mail that also provided detailed background information on Kurtz, Obama and Ayers. (EDITORS: END OPTIONAL TRIM) The WGN alerts were sent primarily to Obama supporters in the Chicago area, but were quickly posted to electronic message boards and web sites, spreading them worldwide. Many of those who called to complain were from outside Illinois, and they flooded its switchboard in a way a station producer called "unprecedented." On Monday night, Zack Christenson, executive producer of "Extension 720 with Milt Rosenburg," said the response was about the same. "It's just constant, constant phone calls and the e-mails are pouring in," he said, adding that the extra volume of calls made it more difficult to run the show. Obama's campaign describes the system as a grassroots truth squad that arms supporters with information. But others see an attempt to stifle free speech. "If Barack Obama demonstrates this little regard for free speech from his opponents during the campaign, what could the American people expect from him as a president?" Ed Martin, president of American Issues Project, said in a statement. (EDITORS: BEGIN OPTIONAL TRIM) Christian Pinkston, the group's spokesman, said Martin was referring to legal threats by Obama's campaign about the ad. He said the counter-attack has only heightened the profile of the group, which "soon" plans to run more ads. "It's worth noting that for all the shouting from the campaign, not one single television station pulled the ad," Pinkston said. "It may have been good for their fundraisings efforts, but it had no impact whatsoever on our efforts." The sole financier of the group's ads, Texas billionaire Harold Simmons, was also a major contributor to the Swift Boat group that attacked Kerry. (EDITORS: END OPTIONAL TRIM) Fox News and CNN declined to run the ad. Still, the group says it ran more than 7,300 times in markets that covered Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia, at a cost of $2.8 million. Another use of Obama's "Action Wire" came earlier in August, when a controversial book called "The Obama Nation" was released. The book by Jerome Corsi, who wrote one in 2004 that launched an attack on Kerry, paints Obama as a stealth radical liberal who has tried to cover up his "extensive connections to Islam." The alert about the Corsi book asked supporters to share an e-mail critical of the text with friends and family. Bruce Gronbeck, a University of Iowa professor who studies political communications, said protests against television and radio stations are fair game in a presidential campaign. "The media are players in the process," he said. "If they are a player, the parties are certainly going to try to hold them accountable." ___ (Chicago Tribune reporter Steve Schmadeke contributed to this report.) ___ (c) 2008, Chicago Tribune. Visit the Chicago Tribune on the Internet at http://www.chicagotribune.com/ Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. Copyright ? 2008 Chicago Tribune |