Robocalls can sometimes be the scuzziest part of politics:
Some Michiganders — this reporter included — got what may have been a surprising call over the weekend: Romney’s chief rival Rick Santorum endorsing Mitt Romney.
The endorsement was in 2008, when Romney was running for president (and Santorum wasn’t). In an interview about the endorsement at the time, Santorum said he hesitated about who to endorse but decided on Romney as the best alternative to John McCain. The robocall was presumably paid for by either the campaign or the Super PAC supporting Romney.
After a short introduction in the automated call to Michigan voters, Santorum says: “If you’re a conservative, there really is only one place to go right now. I would even argue farther than that. If you’re a Republican, if you’re a Republican in the broadest sense, there is only one place to go right now, and that’s Mitt Romney.”
Evidently, the recorded voice didn't say who was behind the call, something which may or may not be required by law, depending on the state. But even where anonymous calls like this are prohibited, it's incredibly hard to punish perpetrators, and in the rare instances that they are, it's almost always long after election day. In other words, campaigns know that this kind of thing is a dirty business, but they're banking on not getting caught—or if they do, they're banking on any penalties getting levied far in the future. Not that our side's never done this kind of thing, but I'm certainly not surprised to see it happening in the Republican primary.