Matt Lewis of Townall has the inside scoop on a pretty neat tele-marketing strategy Mitt Romney is using to connect with Iowans (en masse):

According to one senior Romney aide, last night the Romney campaign hosted a tele-townhall conference call for values voters in Iowa. Approximately 20,000 households were called, and close to 5,000 households participated, I'm told.

Conservative leaders Jay Sekulow, David Keene, and Mark DeMoss were speakers on the call.

According to my source, this wasn't merely a persuasion call; Listeners were instructed to press "1" on their phone if they wanted to caucus. They were then given instructions on where (and how) to caucus.

Considering that only about 75 to 80 thousand Iowans are expected to participate in the Republican caucus -- and that temperatures are very cold -- this seems like a wise way to campaign.

When I worked at the U.S. House of Representatives, we used a similar tele-townhall strategy to connect with constituents. My boss would talk about issues like the Medicare Prescription Drug Bill, energy independence, and the Global War on Terrorism.

The technology is tremendous because it's a great use of the candidate/Member's time (callers are always on the other end of the line) and it is rather cost-effective. A number of phone vendors on the Republican side are now providing this service so it shouldn't be hard to find one.