Friday, April 02, 2010
Congratulations to all of our 2009 Pollie Award-Winning Clients
Stones' Phones clients were recognized in force this year at the 2009 American Association of Political Consultants Pollie Awards! We would like to recognize and congratulate our 7 award-winning clients and thank them for all of their hard work. We feel honored to have worked on these outstanding projects.
Board Award, Best Use of New Technology “Voices,” Clean Air Kansas
Silver “Bad Deal Hunter,” Working Families Coalition
Silver “Hola, les Habla Congressita Loretta Sanchez” Telephone Town Hall, Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez
Silver “Where Is the Initiative?” No on 1033
Silver “You Can Call Me Pags,” Steve Pagliuca for Senate
Bronze “A Powerful Noise,” CARE
Bronze “This is William Shatner Calling,” Greenpeace
Honorable Mention “Voices,” Clean Air Kansas
See previous Stones' Phones Pollie Award winners at www.stonesphones.com/awards.
posted at 12:11 PM
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
"Phone pros move into former confectionery shop"
Stones Phones -- the company that handled the Obama for America phone campaign -- just moved into new digs at 1309 F St. NW.
[...]
The company stuck with several original elements of the Art Deco-styled building: Some of the brick has been left untouched on the back wall in the SVP's office and the walls are all the original concrete. New splashes include glass offices and a lounge area with a big TV and leather chairs "to watch the news, get together for less formal office meetings and to get away from our computers for a little while," said the company.
posted at 5:08 PM
Monday, October 27, 2008
Marty Stone Quoted in USA Today
Groups spend millions bypassing TV, radioBy Matt Kelley, USA TODAY, October 23, 2008
WASHINGTON -- As the presidential campaign heads into its final days, hundreds of workers are knocking on doors and calling voters in Wisconsin, trying to persuade them to vote for Democrat Barack Obama.
They don't work for the Obama campaign. They're hired by Advancing Wisconsin, a new liberal group that has reported spending more than $550,000 this month in support of Obama. None of that money has gone for radio or TV ads.
"We leave that to other people," says Mike Tate, founder of Advancing Wisconsin. "We think what's an effective tool is going out and knocking on people's doors and talking to people."
Although political radio and TV ads get the most attention, Federal Election Commission (FEC) records show that independent political groups are spending millions of dollars in the presidential campaign on canvassing, direct mail, live and automated phone calls, e-mails and text messages.
Independent groups spent more than $13.4 million on those activities in support or opposition to Obama or Republican John McCain from Sept. 5, when the political conventions ended, through Tuesday, a USA TODAY analysis of FEC records shows.
That spending heavily favors Obama: $9.1 million went for activities helping Obama and $4.3 million for McCain, the analysis shows.
Much of that advantage is thanks to the Service Employees International Union, which poured more than $4.8 million into door-to-door canvassing since the conventions, FEC records show. Anna Burger, SEIU's secretary-treasurer, said the union has "thousands of members (knocking) on the doors."
One of McCain's biggest supporters is the National Right to Life Political Action Committee, which spent more than $1.2 million on pro-McCain mailings. "Millions upon millions of unborn babies will die if Barack Obama is elected president," the group's website says.
Independent groups are turning away from broadcast ads because they're expensive and don't necessarily reach the target audience, Democratic political consultant Marty Stone says.
Voters who haven't been contacted yet can expect to be before the election. A national survey by the Pew Research Center in 2006 found that 71% of voters got political mail and 64% got a recorded phone message in the two months before the election.
The under-the-radar forms of voter contacts can be vehicles for nasty rhetoric, says Dennis Johnson, associate dean of the School of Political Management at George Washington University.
"We have a very distinct difference between what you can say on television and what you can say in a direct-mail piece or some other device," Johnson says.
The source for some of those claims is a conservative group called the National Campaign Fund, which FEC records show has spent more than $1.2 million on anti-Obama messages this year. The group's website and e-mails to supporters include dubious accusations ("Why is Obama afraid to admit he was born and raised a Muslim?") and bizarre claims ("Obama uses hypnosis to direct his followers").
"We're coming in and saying some things that maybe McCain can't say," says Jim Lacy, the National Campaign Fund's treasurer and co-founder. The group's other co-founder, Floyd Brown, says the group is not spreading false attacks. "If there's anything on our site that's not documented, factual and true, I'll take it down," Brown says. "I think the record is pretty clear. What we've done is very well documented."
Obama is a Christian.
On the other side, two liberal groups have produced an Internet video that begins with a picture of McCain after a bout with skin cancer in 2000 with the words, "John McCain is 72 years old and had cancer 4 times." The Brave New PAC and Democracy for America, a group founded by Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean and run by his brother, split the costs of briefly running the ad on MSNBC last month. Republican National Committee spokesman Danny Diaz released a statement calling it a "despicable and cheap smear."
The Price of Power is an ongoing series tracking the role of money in politics. Contributing: Ken Dilanian.
posted at 10:34 PM
Wednesday, July 09, 2008
Marty Stone says 'Auto Calls Rock!' on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Marty Stone has seemingly done almost everything there is to do in politics --- including running for Congress himself. And yet, there was one thing missing from his political experience --- being lampooned on the Daily Show by Jon Stewart.
Back in March, Marty received an award for Best Automated Call from the Daily Show at the 2008 Pollie Awards in Santa Monica, California. The Pollie Awards are hosted by the American Association of Political Consultants and honor the best practices in political consulting.
When The Daily Show's John Oliver presented the award to Marty he shouted, "Auto Calls Rock!" much to the delight of Jon Stewart's producers who for two straight nights featured segments on the Pollie Awards.
Stones' Phones won 16 real Pollie Awards at the 2008 AAPC Conference bringing the firm's total up to 67.
Watch the Daily Show's first segment on the Pollie awards Here.
Watch the Daily Show's second segment on the Pollie awards Here.
posted at 9:50 PM
Tuesday, July 08, 2008
Stones' Phones would like to congratulate all of our 2008 Pollie Award Winning Clients
Stones' Phones clients won big again this year at the 2008 American Association of Political Consultants Pollie Awards! We would like to recognize and congratulate our 16 award winning clients and thank them for all of their hard work. We feel honored to have worked with these outstanding clients and 2007 would not have been as successful for Stones' Phones as it was without them.
Gold "Teachers Turn up the Heat, " California Teachers Association
Gold "Stop The Ad, " Rex Simmons for Delegate, Virginia
Silver "A Really Good Reason," Oleszek for Senate, Virginia
Silver "Taking Action to Save Lives," Save Darfur Coalition
Silver "Next Exit: Better Roads," Yes on Roads and Transit
Silver "Tell Your Senator," Coalition for Comprehensive Immigration Reform
Bronze "Don't Forget to Vote – Leave a Post-it Note!" Change to Win
Bronze "Wisdom for the Future," Futurewise
Bronze "Fighting for Forests," The Natural Resources Council of Maine
Bronze "Pop Quiz," New Jersey Education Association
Bronze "Fight the Lies," Day for Delegate, Virginia
Honorable Mention "The Early Vote Gets the Win," Becker for Mayor
Honorable Mention "The Real Cost of Smoking," Tobacco Free Kids
Honorable Mention "Speaking to the People," Representative Gabrielle Giffords
Honorable Mention "Who Will Save Harry Potter," Herring for State Senate, Virginia
Honorable Mention " In Their Own Words, " Northam for Senate, Virginia
To see the full list of 2008 Pollie Award winners, click here.
To see previous Stones' Phones Pollie Award winners, click here.
posted at 9:59 PM
Saturday, June 16, 2007
Stones' Phones launches ONE Vote '08 Telephone Town Hall call to 80,000 ONE Campaign supporters!
Stones' Phones uses sophisticated Telephone Town Hall technology to invite 80,000 ONE Campaign activists to listen to an interactive conference call hosted by former Senators Tom Daschle and Bill Frist along with Hollywood movie star Ben Affleck. The conference call discussed ONE's new campaign 'ONE Vote '08' a $30 million dollar anti-poverty effort to encourage the presidential candidates to take up global poverty and AIDS issues.
Click here to listen to the Telephone Town Hall NOW.
Labels: ONE Campaign
posted at 12:44 PM
Monday, March 26, 2007
Stones' Phones would like to congratulate all of our clients from 2006!
Not only did we work on:
10 Gubernatorial Races
10 Senatorial Races
46 Congressional Races
22 Statewide and Local Ballot Initiatives
We are also proud to announce that Stones' Phones won
16 Pollie Awards
from the American Association of Political Consultants!
Our big Pollie winners include:
MoveOn.Org, EMILY's List, Sierra Club, Human Rights Campaign, Defenders of Wildlife, Governor Jim Doyle, Senator Bob Casey, Representative Melissa Bean, Smoke-Free Arizona, ProKanDo, Fair Wisconsin, Campaign Money Watch, the California Nurses Association, and others.
Check out the Pollie Award Winners booklet here. Phones on page 23!
posted at 2:54 PM