After the third live call from Obama’s volunteers and the first of four recorded calls from Clinton’s, I was livid. How could these politicians, especially Obama, who I had hoped was more tuned in to normal people’s needs, still be bothering me at home to remind me about a caucus in which I (an Independent) couldn’t even vote?

Why did they think that interrupting my daughter’s bedtime story, getting me out of the shower, tying up my phone while I awaited a callback from my doctor, would make me want to vote for them?

I tore the heads off the volunteers and fired off e-mails to everybody I thought might have any influence over this ridiculous, archaic practice. Anyone who is well enough informed that you’d want them to vote knows about the caucuses without a call, I ranted. I’m on the federal do-not-call list for a reason, I raved.

John Spruill of the Obama campaign in L-A wrote a well-reasoned reply to my e-mail. They had to do it because everybody else does it; the last caucus was attended by fewer than 5,000 people statewide; phone calling by live volunteers allows them to answer questions that might not otherwise get asked. Obama volunteers at Bates College used their own cell phone minutes to reach as many people as they could.

But I still think a well-organized campaign should voluntarily refrain from calling people on a do-not-call list.

Which candidate can make that happen?

Karen Lane, Lewiston

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