Last-Minute Push Polls Send Some Voters Over the Edge

The automated call asks Maryland voters whom they support in the U.S. Senate race: Republican Michael S. Steele or Democrat Benjamin L. Cardin.

The follow-up question asks whether "medical research" should be "conducted on unborn babies." If the answer is no, the voice responds: "Fact: Ben Cardin voted to allow stem cell research to be done on unborn babies. Fact: Michael Steele opposes any research that destroys human life."

The calls, which have reached voters from Silver Spring to Baltimore, are being made on behalf of Common Sense Ohio, a conservative Cincinnati-based group that has its hand in six contests, including Senate races in Tennessee and Missouri and a ballot measure in South Dakota that would ban most abortions.

Another question on the phone poll asks whether the phrase "under God" should remain in the Pledge of Allegiance and says Cardin voted against keeping the phrase in the pledge. In reality, Cardin voted against a bill that would have blocked legal challenges to the pledge.

The push poll -- designed to disseminate information about the candidates, rather than collect it -- is just one of the last-minute tactics inundating, and in some cases rankling, Maryland voters in the final week of a campaign that features competitive contests for the Senate and the governor's mansion.

A mailer from the state Republican Party displays photos of four black Democratic politicians and suggests that they are all supporting Steele and Republican Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R). Only one, former Prince George's County Executive Wayne K. Curry, has endorsed Steele, and two others said they were angry that their pictures were being used.

In East Silver Spring, Elisabeth Higgins Null, an Internet researcher who is supporting Cardin, said the push poll had angered her and many of her neighbors. Null said she tolerates political calls that solicit information or "honestly try to discuss the issues."

"This was trying to manipulate us under false pretenses and doing nothing to make our job as voters clearer, and that really upset me," she said.

Cardin, a 20-year Baltimore congressman, denounced the calls yesterday as "probably the most egregious I've heard in all my years." He called on Steele to "stand up and demand that your allies stop conducting these push polls immediately."

Doug Heye, a spokesman for Steele, said that the lieutenant governor "has been clear that this is something his campaign is in no way involved in, and these are the exact kinds of campaign tactics he is running against."

Although the calls do not endorse Steele, Peter Brodnitz, a Virginia-based Democratic pollster, said the script reflects a sophisticated push poll rather than a public opinion survey designed to gather information from voters. "The goal appears to be to give people biased information," Brodnitz said. "It's the opposite of a poll."

What others call push polls, Zeke Swift, spokesman for Common Sense Ohio, called "votercentric issue education."

"There is a lot of communication that goes on that people find intrusive or offensive," he said. "All of it is designed to be informative."

The push polls are being sponsored by Common Sense Maryland, an offshoot of the Ohio organization, which is registered as a nonprofit 501(c)4 group. The Ohio group's president, Nathan Estruth, is an executive with Procter & Gamble. Swift declined to share the names of the group's other donors, which do not have to be disclosed under federal tax or campaign finance laws.

The Republican Party mailer features a quote from Sen. Nathaniel Exum (D-Prince George's) expressing disappointment about the lack of diversity at the top of the Democratic ticket. On the flip side, it says, "The Democratic Party always tells us to 'WAIT.' We are still waiting!" Below are photos of former NAACP president Kweisi Mfume, who lost to Cardin in the primary; Baltimore lawyer Stuart O. Simms, who lost the primary race for state attorney general; Curry; and Sen. Gloria G. Lawlah (D-Prince George's).

It goes on to praise Ehrlich for choosing Steele, the first African American elected statewide, as his running mate in 2002. Mfume has endorsed Cardin and appears in a flier with him. Simms decried the mailer yesterday as "an unconscionable attempt to further create illusion and deceive voters." Lawlah, who attended a rally with Exum for Cardin yesterday, called the mailer "damaging and deceptive."

"People who know won't be fooled," she said. "It's the people who don't keep up with politics they are trying to reach."

One of those featured in the mailer had a different take. Curry said it was a "clever" use of the quote and photo and declined to say which candidate he would support in the governor's race.