An automated "push poll" being conducted by a national conservative group in New Mexico's U.S. Senate race is praising Republican candidate Steve Pearce while saying negative things about his Republican opponent Heather Wilson and the unopposed Democratic candidate Tom Udall.

Among the topics Common Sense Issues addresses in its "personalized educational artificial intelligence polls" are the death of Terri Schiavo, partial-birth abortion, the Ten Commandments, a fence along the Mexican border, taxes, gay marriage and Iraq.

But even though Udall is part of the automated phone call campaign, CSI's executive director said Tuesday that the calls are going only to households with registered Republicans.

Patrick Davis, a Republican strategist based in Colorado Springs who heads CSI, said his group is a tax-exempt group and can't endorse candidates, but a political action committee associated with CSI "early on got behind Steve Pearce."

A spokesman for Pearce said CSI is not part of the Pearce campaign, and he hadn't heard about the automated phone calls until Tuesday. Asked what he thought about the calls, Brian Phillips said, "It's a free country. We can't tell them what to do."

Whitney Cheshire, a spokeswoman for the Wilson campaign, said Tuesday: "It's too bad that Steve Pearce is relying on his out-of-state special-interest friends who are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars attacking Heather Wilson."

The calls first came to public attention Monday when Udall's campaign sent out a fundraising e-mail saying, "The GOP 'Swift Boat' attacks on Tom Udall have begun here in New Mexico."

Amanda Cooper, Udall's stepdaughter and campaign manager, said Tuesday that despite Davis' statement that only Republicans are getting calls, several Democrats have told the Udall campaign they have gotten calls as well.

The calls start out asking, "Do you have a favorable opinion of President George W. Bush?" Respondents are then asked if they plan to vote in the Republican primary. If so, they are asked if they plan to vote for Pearce. Those who answer "yes" are then told Pearce is "an articulate champion of ordinary citizens and working families. ... Steve Pearce is consistently the most pro-life member of New Mexico's congressional delegation."

But those who say they back Wilson are asked about various issues including abortion. "Congresswoman Heather Wilson did not vote for (a bill to outlaw transporting) minors across state lines for abortions nor did she vote to save the life of Terri Schiavo. And Heather Wilson supported spending federal dollars to fund life-destroying human embryonic stem-cell research." Pearce, the voice says, voted the opposite way.

Schiavo was a Florida woman who was in a persistent vegetative state for 15 years. Her husband's legal battle to remove her feeding tube touched off a national right-to-life controversy. Shortly before she died in 2005, Congress got involved, passing a bill to move the Schiavo case to the federal court system. Wilson did not vote on that bill.

Another question for Wilson supporters: "Do you believe it's just common sense that the Ten Commandments should be allowed to be displayed on public property? Fact: Heather Wilson voted to spend taxpayer funds to remove the Ten Commandments from a courthouse lawn. Fact: Steve Pearce voted to stop taxpayer funds from being used to remove the Ten Commandments monument. Does knowing this make you more likely to trust Steve Pearce as a common sense leader who will defend the values of our families and of our country?"

The Ten Commandments vote was on an amendment to an appropriations act, prohibiting the use of funds to enforce a federal court judgment in Indiana against displaying the commandments.

Those who say they plan to vote in the Democratic primary and support Udall also are asked questions about issues.

"Do you support the procedure known as 'partial birth abortion' in which a third trimester baby is partially delivered and then killed?" Udall supporters are asked. Those who say no are told, "Congressman Tom Udall voted not once but twice to allow the barbaric procedure known as partial-birth abortion. ... Does knowing this make you more likely to agree that Tom Udall is out of touch with New Mexico families?"

CSI caused some controversy for similar push polls in the Iowa caucuses in support of presidential candidate Mike Huckabee and attacking Huckabee's rival, Mitt Romney. Huckabee disavowed the group, telling Time magazine, "Our campaign has nothing to do with the push-polling, and I wish they would stop."

Contact Steve Terrell at 986-3037 or sterrell@sfnewmexican.com.