A new weapon against push polls

Push polls are Ma Bell's whisper campaigns.

Under the guise of an objective survey, political candidates (and those who oppose them) sometimes hire firms to call up voters and give them leading questions.

"We're doing a survey," they say. "Would you vote for [Name Here] if you knew he is a cannibal?"

For the victims of a push poll (and Dome includes the general public), the hardest part is proving that they're going on. Multiple people can tell a reporter they received one, but, well, where's the proof?

In some cases, the opposing campaign will release the "results" of a push poll, though they usually tip their hand by declining to provide the wording of the questions asked.

But now, for a small amount of money, you can fight back.

After the jump, an explanation.

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Under the Dome would like to hear those push polls—and report on them. But we need proof of the wording of the questions were that were asked.

That's where you come in.

With a cheap digital recorder and a small doodad, you can record a phone call at the push of a button. The next time you get a push poll, just record it, download it to your computer and e-mail it to us, along with a note about when you received it and what number showed up on your caller ID.

The recorder is on sale here and the doodad here.

Under North Carolina law, you do not need the consent of the other party to record a conversation, but if you want to play fair, you can simply state "I'm going to get this on tape" after you start recording.

(At any rate, consent would not be an option in an automated call.)

Once you have a push poll on tape, send an e-mail to dome@newsobserver.com and we can talk you through downloading it and sending it to us.

Happy hunting!