A Tale of Two Direct Mail Campaigns: Dodd's Low-Dollar Outreach Vs. Romney's Search For High Rollers

The following piece was produced by HuffPost's OffTheBus.

Fundraising emails Chris Dodd and Mitt Romney's campaigns sent this week, similar in that they highlighted donors' communiques to the respective campaigns, differed greatly in their core audiences and the dollar amount of the ask. Dodd's campaign highlighted donors who'd given less than $100 and suggested a $25 contribution. Romney, on the other hand, encouraged recipients to forward the email to their "entire rolodex" and offered a list of ad spot 'sponsorships', starting at $80. These two drastically different approaches reflect a Romney campaign desperate to keep the coffers full to protect his front-runner status, and a Dodd campaign lagging in the polls, throwing a Hail Mary to simultaneously build awareness and funds.

Join me to take a look at both of the messages.

Following Friday's forwarded fundraising message from Dodd's campaign, sent before all the "edits" could be incorporated, Tim Tagaris takes a moment to share some of the notes of support from small-dollar Dodd donors. Here's some examples from the message, titled "What did you say?":

For months I've filled your email box with two types of messages: What Chris Dodd is up to on the trail, and how you can meaningfully support those efforts.

But lest you think it's just us talking at you, we get all kinds of responses and do our best to read each and every one of them.

Here are a few more messages from supporters.

* Steven from Chandler, AZ writes, "Thanks for standing up for our Constitution."
* Vincent from Burbank, CA adds, "Good luck in Iowa. I hope that you surprise everyone and win."
* Janice from Germantown, TN included the following message with her $25 contribution, "We need an electable candidate that supports the constitution. Chris Dodd can do that."

All in all, Tim highlights 12 supporters, and includes their first name, location, and how much each donated - from $25 up to $100. Supporters are then asked to donate $25 to Dodd's campaign.

The message from Mitt uses the same basic principle, but takes a completely different approach to how to ask for money. Mitt Romney's online team jumped into the plain-text fundraising fracas yesterday, sending their supporters a forwarded email from a donor named Josh Sato. Spencer Zwick, Mitt Romney's finance director, writes that Josh Sato supports Mitt Romney and wrote in, "I'm feeling anxious...Iowa is just one month away! I emailed the campaign to see what I can do to help." Mitt's campaign's had an answer: a "One Million Dollar Media Victory Fund" to run ads in early primary states. Josh Sato, appreciative of Zwick's response, sent a message "to his entire rolodex" encouraging people to donate to the media fund.

About that media fund. Here are the four ways that you and your rolodex can contribute:

* $80 to sponsor this ad in Iowa
* $300 to sponsor this ad in South Carolina
* $525 to sponsor this ad in Florida
* $1,275 to sponsor this ad in New Hampshire (comes with "a bonus DVD with every Media Victory Fund TV ad!")

I don't know the demographics or giving trends of Romney's email list, so they know what they are capable of raising and how much to ask to get there. But this is an unusually high ask that is not outlined in the original email. Also, is it so much to ask that you can get a DVD for $80?

This message was a unique design for the Romney campaign, which usually uses a banner that says "Mitt Romney" at the top of every message, but that was absent in this email. You can see what the plain text version looks like at Politickr. The message has three parts - first, a one paragraph intro that is supposed to be written by Spencer Zwick, Romney's finance director:

This weekend, a contributor emailed asking how he can specifically help our campaign in the final days before the first caucuses and primaries - and now he's forwarding my response to his entire rolodex. Please follow his lead. The clock is ticking, and Mitt is counting on us.

The second part is supposed to be written by Josh Sato, the supporter:

The race in Iowa and the other early states is neck and neck. I'm feeling anxious...Iowa is just one month away! I emailed the campaign to see what I can do to help. See their response below, and please consider joining me by supporting the Media Victory Fund today at MittRomney.com/MediaFund.

And then after all of that is the original fundraising message written by Spencer Zwick, explaining what the Media Fund is and why it's important to donate.

I do not think this was an effective use of the forwarded-plain-text-email fad. First, this is Zwick's first appearance as a character in Romney's online presence, which is different from other candidates' use of this tactic. There is usually one known character, either the candidate or the online campaign person who usually communicates with supporters. Second, neither of the "personal notes" on top of the original email are signed, and you really have to study the email to figure out what's going on - and that's not a good way to bring in support for a million-dollar media fund.

There are good reasons why Dodd and Romney are going about fundraising from two different points: Dodd is trailing most candidates in most polls, while Romney is struggling to stay on top, fighting off both Huckabee and Giuliani. He needs a million-dollar media fund, even if he has to make some big asks to build it. Dodd, on the other hand, can free up his campaign to be creative and innovate new approaches to communicating with supporters and lifting up donors - if there was more on the line for Dodd, there'd be bigger asks.

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