COLUMBIA, S.C. — I’m going to be spending the rest of the week in my home state, South Carolina, writing about the upcoming Democratic primary for the Politicker.

The first thing I noticed when I walked into my mother’s house, where I’m staying, was a flashing red light on the answering machine. I pushed the button, thinking my mom might have left an update on the status of the supply of cold cuts in the fridge, but instead, there was a drawling recorded voice:

And this:

It went on in this vein for a minute or so. (In one particularly ludicrous bit of slander, the robo-caller accused the Clintons of stealing or killing Kathleen Willey’s cat, concluding with the following punchline: “Hillary thinks cats are expendable; can you trust her?”

It would have been funny if it weren’t so sad.TPM Muckraker was on these calls (apparently the work of a unaffiliated Black Helicopter-type) yesterday, so they’re not exactly news, but somehow this kind of mud seems dirtier when it’s being flung in your (or your mom’s) direction.

Should be an interesting few days.

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