Robo-calls versus humans...

...we'll see who does a better job today. I've deleted at least three from the Moore campaign. One human from Gordon's campaign called with a polling place reminder.
Score one for Gordon's campaign for not clogging up my voice mail box.
But never mind my irritiation with Robo-calls. I want to know if they're effective?
If I was running for office and was flush with $$$$ they way Moore is, what would be a better use of campaign money: contracting out to an automated calling service, or getting a group of well trained humans to spread the word.
One article I found suggests the humans work better. Donald P. Green and Alan S. Gerber tested campaigning techniques such as mailings, door hangers, door-to-door canvassing and robo-calls.

In a series of more than 20 experiments conducted between 1998 and 2002, Donald P. Green and Alan S. Gerber tested all of the key techniques campaigns employ to generate voter turnout. In each experiment, they established a control group that received none of the mail, phone calls or door-to-door contacts being tested. Then, using voter records showing which voters actually voted, they measured the impact of these methods. ...A major message that comes through these experiments: Quality counts. The more personal the contact, the more likely it is to motivate someone to vote. Phone calls by volunteers or well-trained and committed callers work much better than calls made by professional callers with no connection to the candidate or cause. In the case of phones, paying $1.50 for a high quality call is far more cost effective than paying 50 cents for a short call hurriedly read by an uncommitted caller.

From: Shattering myths about getting out the vote. , Campaigns and Elections June 1, 2004. Green and Gerber's research ended up in a book called Get Out the Vote! How to Increase Voter Turnout.

Maybe Robo-calls are cost effective if the candidate doesn't have an experienced staff, with little experience in training volunteers. But an incumbent using robo-calls? It sounds like laziness.