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This morning I got an email from our friend Rita in Allentown, PA. Rita was reporting an anti-Obama “push-poll.” In simple terms a “push-poll” is a phone call masquerading as a survey, but actually is meant to deliver various rumors or negative dirt on a candidate. Rita did exactly what all of you should do if you get push-polled, which is email a left-wing blogger. Good job Rita! Here’s what Rita told us:

Got a call today from someone claiming to be conducting a political poll for “Big 10 Schools.” They asked for the oldest male member of the household home at the time. The polling started off pretty normally until the following sequence of questions:

How many of the following statements would change your view of Barack Obama?
Obama is Black.
He was a member of the Jeramiah Wright Church for 20 years only having resigned in May 2008.
He is a former smoker.
He said that people in Pennsylvania cling to “Guns and Religion.”
He has only been a member of the Senate for 4 years.

This is an interesting push-poll because all of those things are true, making it slightly less dirty than some of the ones out there. Rita, though, had no idea that Barack Obama was black because nobody in this campaign has ever used race as a wedge issue, certainly not the McCain campaign. So in that respect the call was helpful. Our favorite item is the former smoker line, which may be McCain’s last line of attack. Is the October surprise a recent photo of Barack bumming an American Spirit, proving once and for all a shocking but tenuous link to Leonard Peltier? 

Seriously though, if you get a call like that please email us with the full script, or even a recording, especially if you’re in Pennsylvania. I’m actually very worried about Pennsylvania, and will be writing a bit about that later today.

Update: It turns out this may not be a push poll at all, but an actual survey to determine people’s attitudes on various issues. Ben Smith has an article up that’s a must-read, Racists for Obama, which leans heavily on the “Big Ten Battleground Poll.” The Big Ten poll has been tracking attitudes on a range of issues including race, Rev. Wright, and apparently smoking. They released their main findings in September but are likely still tracking attitudes and shifts. Mystery solved it seems.

About The Author - Ben Wyskida is a writer, activist, conscientious hedonist and political communications strategist living in Brooklyn. - Visit Ben's site.