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Is it Babs, or is it Memorex? Barbara Bush�s taped plug fakes out phone customers By Dani Dodge ASHLAND � At least four Ashland seniors � all Democrats � got calls from Barbara Bush this week. Three of them hung up on the former first lady. "It sounded very much like Barbara Bush, but this is a town of actors," said Ashland senior Janet Bagg. The calls sound so realistic that people aren�t sure if they�re really Mrs. Bush, an actor or just a recording. And this fall�s big ballot requires so much work of voters, several people were irritated by the ambiguous calls. "When you look at the thickness of the voters pamphlet, you�ve got to know that political calls are an even bigger insult," Bagg said. The Democrats who hung up didn�t cut off a live Barbara Bush. Just a tape. The Oregon Republican Party confirmed Wednesday the calls were taped by Barbara Bush stumping for her son, Republican presidential nominee George W. Bush. State�s Republican Party Executive Director Darryl Howard insisted the calls have been well received. They will continue. "It has been a very effective message," Howard said. "We�ve had a lot of phone calls here at the party headquarters saying �I like it.� " Although several recipients of the calls complained they were offensive, they aren�t illegal. According to Michael Dunne, a spokesman for Qwest, automatic dialing machines that randomly call numbers to play a recorded message can be illegal. But targeting people with recorded messages is not. Howard said the Barbara Bush calls are targeted to registered voters, which is legal. The call simply starts with Barbara Bush saying "Hello" in her distinctively genteel voice. "... this is Barbara Bush," she continues. "I�m calling to tell you about my son George W.�s plan to protect Social Security." She goes on to say that while she obviously has a mother�s bias, she also knows her son has integrity and will fulfill his promises. "George W.�s plan will make sure you get everything you have earned," Bush exhorts. "And protects you against the rising cost of insurance and prescription drugs." She ends her call with an 800 number where people can register their support for Bush�s plan. Howard said before the calls started in Oregon, the message passed the most important test: "The Mom Test." Howard called his mother, a 76-year-old middle-of-the-road independent living in Washington, and played the tape for her. "She thought it was great," Howard said. Howard wouldn�t say who is being targeted or how many people will get the calls. But the calls have become the buzz in at least one Ashland senior center. In addition to Bagg, two retired women and one retired man got Barbara Bush on the line Tuesday and Wednesday. "It was so weird," said one 78-year-old woman, who asked her name not go in the paper. "I just hung up right away. "Guess who�s fed up with elections?" But she had second thoughts later about her dramatic action. She said she wished she�d listened to the whole call and then replied: "Oh, Mrs. Bush, I�m sorry you gave birth to that idiot." Asked if she really would have said that to the former first lady, the woman�s politeness showed through her bravado. "Well, if I knew it was a recording," she said. Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2000 Mail Tribune, Inc.