On The Download: The Final E-Appeal
Welcome back to On The Download, your almost-daily dispatch on politechs: Politics, Multimedia and the Internet. Hotline subscribers: Check out our archives.
If you have tips, comments, or suggestions, email us.
If you have ever signed up for a political candidate's e-mail list, OTD would bet its congressional gambling winnings that you received an e-appeal today (and yesterday and the day before...) That's because if there's one day for which political e-mail can serve as more than a fundraising tool, it's today as a reminder to vote. But for some of the bigger political organizations, it's also part of a larger GOTV strategy in which parties bring out the big guns (and 2008 candidates try to squeeze their names on the list) for that final push from behind the computer screen to inside the voting booth. Here's a quick look at two trends for the final e-appeal:
GOTV: E-mail reminders to vote went out to both the DNC's and RNC's lists yesterday with links to Web sites where voters can look up polling places. The RNC, however, had to resend localized e-mails to voters today alerting receipients that the voter information listed "may have contained outdated or inaccurate information" and included a link to a voter services Web site. According to an RNC staffer, the localized e-mails were incorrect due to a computer glitch which has now been fixed and the e-mails were resent with additional voter information just in case.
Otherwise, final voter appeals were generally sent out by the heads of each campaign organization (i.e. Rahm Emanuel for the DCCC, Tom Reynolds for the NRCC, Howard Dean for the DNC and either Ken Mehlman or Political Director Michael DuHaime for the RNC) instead of the typical big names (Obama for Dems; A lot of McCain and Giuliani for GOPers) that usually bring in the big bucks. In terms of quantity, the RNC sent out at least one e-mail every day since mid-October, while the DNC kept up the pace with their mid-week fundraising letters.
WH '08: The final crunch is also a last chance for potential White House '08 candidates to show their support for party favorites in addition to an excuse to get their name out to supporters across the country. For just the RNC list, the following WH '08 candidates had their likeness on an e-mail in the past few weeks: Jeb Bush, George Pataki, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Bill Frist, Sam Brownback. And of course, Laura Bush -- twice since late October. Comparatively, the DNC's weekly e-mails were addressed by Howard Dean or Tom McMahon.
But here's something of note: Hillary Clinton was never in Iowa or New Hampshire to fundraise for candidates this cycle, but her HILLPAC sent out an e-mail in late October asking for donations to Iowa Congressional candidate Bruce Braley via an ActBlue donations. Sneaky, sneaky. page [SHIRA TOEPLITZ].
And now, some final BYTES for Election Day:
*An iTunes playlist for voter ballots? TheBallot.org is a one-stop-shop for advocacy groups (or anyone with the initiative, no pun intended) to make their own voter guides with pre-formatted ballot questions and candidates by state.
*John Edwards has recorded a video message in support of the minimum wage ballot initiative in Colorado sponsored by ProgressNow Action.
*DNC's came out with the Web Ad "Two Wrongs" at the end of last week.