Automated calls flood SC ahead of GOP primary

First, the TV ads. Then, the mailers. Now, in the days before South Carolina's primary, the pitches are coming ever more frequently by phone.

Republican presidential candidates and their allies are peppering South Carolina voters with pre-recorded phone messages, known as robocalls.

Federal law prohibits commercial automated calls, but makes exceptions for politics and marketing.

In South Carolina, an attorney general's opinion says the recorded automated calls can't be made to a live human being. But it's OK for the recorded message to be left on voice mail. That explains why, in many cases, people who answer their phones often are greeted with hang-ups.

There's a risk to all those calls: Voters may find them annoying and be turned off by the flood of messages filling voice mail boxes.

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