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By Joshua Molina

Posted May 17, 2010 at 9:09 p.m.

The traditional “town hall” meeting for generations has served as a political staple for members of Congress trying to reach constituents.

Hold a big meeting in a large auditorium and invite everyone to express themselves in public.

Congressional candidate Tim Allison is trying to turn that concept on its head.

Allison, a 24th Congressional District candidate, attempted what is believed to be a first for Ventura County. Last week, he held a “telephone town hall,” where his campaign randomly called thousands of likely Democratic voters at 6:30 p.m. in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties to gather data for use in his campaign.

“This is Tim Allison, and tonight we are breaking new ground,” Allison told listeners.

Allison is facing Marie Panec and Shawn Stern in the Democratic primary. The winner will face Rep. Elton Gallegly, R-Simi Valley, in November.

It’s unclear how successful the town hall was, largely because of some technical difficulties. At times, Allison’s voice faded in and out. In some cases, callers hung up before it came time for them to ask their questions.

From Allison’s perspective, the call was a success.

“It’s a really effective way to reach a lot of voters in a short period of time,” said Allison, a longtime political and community activist and real estate broker in Santa Barbara County, who now lives in Ventura County.

Allison said there were anywhere between 150 and 1,000 people on the call at any one time, and about 4,700 people listened to part of the call, which cost about $4,000.

Allison began the town hall by offering a scripted introduction of himself and his family. Throughout the call, he repeatedly slammed Gallegly, who has served in the House for 24 years.

Allison answered mostly softball questions about education, healthcare and the state of the economy. And he never mentioned his primary opponent, Marie Panec.

Lawrence Becker, a political science professor at CSU Northridge, said these types of new media political tactics help to further brand a candidate in the eyes of voters.

Voters will perceive candidates who are the most technically savvy, Becker said, as the people who are most likely to take innovative and “cutting-edge” approaches to public policy.

“Especially in the wake of the 2008 Obama campaign and the use of new media, campaigns want to emulate that,” Becker said.

Telephone and online town halls are typically successful because of the small number of people who vote in congressional campaigns and primaries, added Becker, who has taught classes in elections and voting behavior.

Tim Hysom, director of Communications and Technical Services at the Congressional Management Foundation, said telephone town halls are more common among members of Congress, not candidates.

The foundation is a nonprofit, nonpartisan Washington, D.C.-based group that helps members of Congress reach constituents more effectively.

“For members who are already serving, it allows them to not be in the district and still have meaningful dialogue with constituents,” Hysom said. However, he warned that the telephone town hall should never turn into the only way a candidate or member of Congress reaches out to voters.

Daniel Tamm, campaign manager for Panec, said he welcomes any candidate efforts to reach voters. Panec’s strategy, however, is to focus on making quality connections with individual voters, rather than random points of contact, he said.

“I applaud all of these efforts,” he said. “But we are focused on having one-on-one conversations with constituents.”