The Real Real People

Real People supported Blair's Labor Party in the last election. Real people who were paid, trained, and placed. Real, Astroturfing people:

But the Dispatches programme, The Dirty Tricks Election, is the first to show in detail how astroturfing works - and how sophisticated it has become. Campaign materials seen by Dispatches stress that 'more people trust the letters page than any other page of their local newspaper' and that local organisers should target it. The party also kept lists of professionals, such as doctors, senior police officers and teachers, who were not identifiable as Labour party members but could be relied on to speak supportively.

Among the American strategists drafted into the Labour campaign was Zach Exley, a Democrat and expert in internet campaigning who pioneered the use of emails to supporters appealing for money...

The technique, which began with Bush's Republican party encouraging pro-war letters to local newspapers, and then by Democrats to push Kerry, is said to have originated with pharmaceutical firms encouraging patients to write letters praising the effects of certain drugs. It is now so widespread in the US that country singer Chely Wright was recently accused of astroturfing a record, when members of her fan club bombarded radio stations asking them to play her latest song.

Yesterday a Labour Party spokesman declined to comment, adding: 'We cannot comment on the documentary because we have not had an opportunity to see it.' However, party sources said Kleeman had been escorted from the building within days of the election campaign starting after officials became suspicious of her behaviour.

Blair, Bush, Kerry, the huge and hugely rich pharmaceutical companies, and Chely Wright. One tactic shared between them.