'Do not call' list targets 'robo' political phoning

Those of you who love having dinner interrupted by a prerecorded message from a political candidate may stop reading now.

The rest may want to hear about Shaun Dakin, a Virginian who has founded a new "Do Not Contact" registry that he hopes will end unsolicited "robo" calls from campaigns.

If his fledgling nonpartisan, nonprofit effort succeeds, it promises to do for campaign calls what the Federal Do Not Call Registry has done to commercial telephone solicitors.

"I've gotten good feedback on how much people hate these phone calls," Dakin said. "I got an e-mail from one man who got 37 phone calls in one day."

Using a new Web site, people can register their phone numbers for free, or pay $1.24 to create an elaborate profile of what telephone numbers, mailing addresses and e-mail addresses they do or do not want candidates to use.

Once the database grows, Dakin said he will ask campaigns to subscribe to it and purge their phone lists accordingly.

Dakin said he's concentrating on getting the word out to voters in early presidential primary states, but he noted the registry could be useful for campaigns down to the mayoral level.

Because Dakin's effort has no force of law behind it, the effort could get hung up if too few people sign up.

"What campaigns understand is numbers," Dakin said. "Ultimately, my goal is to increase voter participation in the political process by encouraging a civil dialogue between the public and politicians."