Sorry, Wrong Number

In theory, the technique sounds like a natural for candidates seeking office in the electronic age. Rent a computer. Cram it with the names, telephone numbers and demographic particulars of a million or so voters. Feed in recorded messages by the candidate, slanting each pitch to appeal to a different ethnic or social group. Plug in a bank of telephones. Push a few buttons. And bleep, whir, dingaling, the machines tirelessly canvass the constituency with "personalized" calls (TIME, Jan. 10).

In practice, however, the computer phone banks have blown a few fuses. For one thing, there is no telling how intrusive or untimely a call might be. For another, the computer's cross sections can get crossed up, misdirecting messages, say, about substandard housing to wealthy WASPs or promising new employment opportunities to retired senior citizens. That kind of cross-up happened to the statewide computerized campaign of one candidate in the Florida primary. No machine recorded the reaction on the other end of the line, but the possibilities are several:

Candidate: Hello--this is Hubert Humphrey on a recorded message.

Voter: Hubert who?

Candidate: I'd like just a moment of your time. . .

Voter: I don't have a moment.

Candidate: ... to talk about the Florida presidential primary.

Voter: You woke the baby.

Candidate: The stakes are high this election year.

Voter: You must be high to call here right in the middle of the Flip Wilson Show.

Candidate: We must support Israel . . .

Voter: Israel? What about us poor blacks right here at home?

Candidate: . . . providing her with the arms . . .

Voter: Arms? How about providing for all the mouths I got to feed?

Candidate: . . . she needs--and now!

Voter: Man, have you got the wrong number! (Click.)

Fortunately, perhaps, other snags caused the Humphrey computer phone banks to deliver less than half the promised 9,000 calls per day. Sobered by the experience, the Senator's aides now suspect that the day of saturation is fast arriving. In Wisconsin, they used only one basic message--and that only in Milwaukee County.

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