In Tennessee, callers work to dial up a win for Santorum

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - Is he against abortion? Can he beat the president? Will he save us from the tyranny of Obamacare?

Yes, yes, and yes, says the voice on the phone. Rick Santorum is a pro-life fiscal conservative best able to win the general election.

OK, the Republican at the other end of the line says. You've got my vote.

Rick Santorum, the former Pennsylvania senator, is positioned for a double-digit victory in Tennessee's GOP primary Tuesday, according to the polls. And part of the reason might just be the men, women, and children humming Southern drawls into eight phones under the drop ceiling and fluorescent lights in a drab office park off a Knoxville highway.

Speaking from scripts provided by the campaign - but also from hearts that ache with the sense that America is being destroyed - the volunteer callers are invariably well-received. Among the undecided, and among the forgetful who didn't realize the election was this week, several voters ended up committing to vote for Santorum after hearing the sales pitches Saturday.

Santorum "shares a lot of the values we have here in Tennessee," Macel Ely, 38, earnestly tells a prospective voter.

It works. "He said he would probably vote for Rick because I'm the first one who asked," Ely declares.

Of the 10 states voting Tuesday, Tennessee is where Santorum has the largest lead. The state has the third-most delegates up for grabs, and the campaign hopes to get close to 66 percent of the vote, which would allow it to secure all the delegates.

There appear to be votes available. Five hours into Saturday's call campaign, 27 of 63 voters said they were undecided. Three were then swayed to the Santorum side.

"As an ole country boy, it's been a hard row to hoe, but I'm going with Santorum," one voter said.

The calls are set up like surveys, and the callers don't always identify themselves as being from the Santorum campaign at the start. Callers ask whom the person on the other end of the line is supporting and what issues are most important to him or her. The answers are plugged into the phone and electronically sent to a centralized Santorum database.

In the process, the callers try to persuade those who haven't yet committed by reading talking points. As of Saturday, 17,000 calls had been made in less than two weeks from this call center and another in Johnson City.

The walls of the call center list the names of those who made the most calls, with three claiming more than 500. A sign promises the campaign worker who dials the most a personal phone call from Santorum - or a sweater vest, Santorum's signature clothing item.

"What's better than that?" asked volunteer Daniel Dunn, 26.

Among the dozen or so volunteers who filtered through the call center Saturday were five of the 19 children of the Bates family, Santorum supporters who will star in a new reality show on TLC debuting this month.

"Oh, that's awesome!" said 13-year-old Carlin Bates, on the line with a pledged Santorum voter. "God bless!"

Volunteers here say they are not familiar with - or dismiss the importance of - the more controversial elements of Santorum's past, such as comments on homosexuality that have made him a target of derision from liberals.

A recent poll shows President Obama would beat Santorum by a smaller margin than he would front-runner Mitt Romney, but some Democrats believe that once Americans learned about Santorum's positions on social issues, he would be handily defeated in November.

"I heard on the news that some of the Democrats want Santorum," a voter tells one caller, echoing a concern about Santorum's electability.

The responses from the callers went something like this: We nominated moderates before, in John McCain and Bob Dole, and that failed. Santorum presents a "stark contrast" to Obama.

"Well, thank you for clearing that up," one skeptical voter said. "For me, that's the only reservation I had."

Over and over again, voters said they liked Santorum's views on social issues such as abortion.

"It is the Bible Belt," explained Anthony J. Nownes, a professor of political science at the University of Tennessee. "[Santorum's] brand of social conservatism certainly appeals to a lot of people, especially Republicans and especially people likely to vote in the primary."

Plus, Nownes said, Santorum is now enjoying his moment as the "anybody but Romney" candidate.

Romney's Mormonism is apparently a weakness, with one voter telling a Santorum caller he wouldn't let anyone in his family vote for a Mormon.

But there's also anger, Nownes said, that "a fairly moderate guy has been thrust upon them" as the presumptive nominee. Callers appeal to this anger, mentioning Santorum's blue-collar roots.

The message: Santorum is like you.

The calls work, according to Trey Ramsey, a campaign operative, because Tennesseeans "want the personal connection."

"It's like at church, people want to know what other people are thinking," he said. "I just feel like the South's culture is more receptive to a verbal exchange."

Ramsey tells one caller: "Lord, I'm only 26 years old, but the debt that's going on right now just scares me."

Callers seemed to be most effective when they offered personal tidbits, when they mentioned God, when they acted as if they were talking to a next-door neighbor.

"Glad you're safe from the storms - we were too," said Elsie Lewis, 72, referring to the tornadoes that ripped through the heartland the night before. "God is in control - and he is for this election, too."