Chris Emailed Me!

My wife Elizabeth actually reads Chris Dodd's emails. Against her will, she gets excited about them. (As someone who's worked as a professional political email writer, I am, unfortunately, completely immune.)

I've argued before that email is a medium suited, better than any other save a face to face meeting, to fostering a real personal connection. And Dodd's emails--thanks to Internet director Tim Tigaris and his team (and of course Chris Dodd himself!)--have done better than most at achieving that.

But today Dodd broke the political email sound barrier. He did something that--as far as I know--no other major candidate has ever attempted: a short email, dashed off just like one he'd write to a real friend, that gets right to the point and is totally real. It contains exactly 0% policy babble or high rhetoric--two things that people who are your supporters really don't need, and grow tiered of very quickly.

Elizabeth is not even a Dodd supporter. (I think she was added to the list after signing his Restore Habeas petition.) But, minutes ago, when she got this email, she looked over the top of her laptop screen, a little starry eyed, and muttered something about "Chris" emailing her:

From: Chris Dodd Reply-To: [e-mail]
Subject: Real quick
Date: Thu, 27 Sep 2007 10:38:41 -0400 (EDT)

Hey,

I only have a few seconds on my way back to Washington from last night's
debate.

The fundraising quarter is wrapping up and we're just short of hitting our
goal.  Will you chip in $23 and put us over the top?  You can contribute
here:

http://www.chrisdodd.com/deadline

I'll be in touch soon.

Chris

That email really is a beautiful--and impossible--thing.

If you haven't worked in a campaign and had to deal with the requirements and restrictions of policy and communications staffers, you might have a hard time understanding why I'm so impressed.

Campaigns these days are about everything BUT candidates forging a truly honest connection with their supporters. Most comms and policy staffers are terrified by that kind of honesty. In this age of polling and microtargetting, it's all about reaching swing voters. On the Kerry campaign, for example, someone would have first made us add "And together, we can build a stronger America!" And then a stem cell policy statement would have be jammed in there too.

That email from Dodd is a wonderful way to signal the start of a new kind of truly sincere conversation between candidate and supporter. (I like to imagine that this email was actually dashed off by Dodd himself after Tim Tigaris had somehow snuck onto the bus and made an impassioned plea to the Senator to just begin writing to his supporters as he would to any friend or colleague. --Disclaimer for Tim's sake: I've only met him a couple of times at conferences and I haven't spoken to him in at least 6 months, so don't let this get him in trouble!)

Now, Senator Dodd--or "Chris," as Elizabeth knows him--has to follow that email up ("I'll be in touch soon...").

So, "Chris," if I can offer a few words of free and impartial Internet consulting: be true to your supporters and keep up this conversation. Listen to Tim and don't let the policy and comms folks (as good as they are at *their* jobs) muddle up the raw clarity of your own voice speaking to your own supporters, who only you know so well.
___

PS: Please help Huffington Post's Off the Bus project monitor candidates' emails to supporters. Campaigns often send many different versions of emails to different parts of the country and to different profiles of supporters and voters. Please click here to get involved.

Comments

[janmB]

I'll echo Bill Clinton----
I don't care which democrat wins I like them all.

[Brujos1]

All of the commentators make good points. I can only add that earnest Chris Dodd belongs in the Senate where he has been in the tradition that his father set. Chris is of the old school establishment politics with the best web-site; however, the slick gimmickry remains. At least he has assigned specialists who do respond to important issues like education.

However, not one candidate has responded to the many issues I have raised in various ways (I'll keep trying), not even Chris with his "Hey" message that I also received. Tracking legitimate responses is an excellent idea that will bring the tracker the attention that he/she deserves.

[dpoloh]

More on this: I got an e-mail from "Barack" last Friday in this same style. It was the first e-mail his campaign has sent that I've seen that didn't have the normal Barack background and graphics. It was a simple, personal message, much like Dodd's. I'm guessing the timing is no coincidence. The next day I got an e-mail from "Michelle Obama," also in the hurried, friendly style. Perhaps someone on the campaign team read this posting.
I also receive e-mail from Hillary's campaign and noticed a similar shift to the left on the formalness scale. Last Thursday she sent an e-mail with the subject "Carrots", in response to a fundraising e-mail in which randomly drawn contributors will have the chance to watch a debate and eat chips with Bill. Clearly another attempt by the campaign to show off Hillary's funny bone. And Sunday I got an e-mail from John Grisham (huh?) asking me to contribute before the Sept 30 deadline, again in the simple personal style without the graphics.... This trend is definitely spreading.

[LightningJoe]

I think it's a clever use of misdirection (a "lie," some folks call that).

The $23.00 odd amount and the statement that he's dashing it off on his back to the office, that he needs the odd amount to put him "over the top" (Of what? is he going to stop fundraising, now?) are meant to lead the receiver to think that this paltry amount is really all he wants, and that the receiver was selected for some special reason.

Oh, gosh, maybe he pulled my address out of a file at random for this special consideration! I'll run off now and send the money to my new best friend!

I respect intelligence and innovation, but new ways of lying are just new ways of lying.

-------------
Kill your TV, and reclaim your mind.

[SamThornton]

I wish I had a nickel for every email I get from a political campaign or issue-oriented group for a contribution (4-20 daily). It's gotten so I avoid signing up for email updates or anything else associated with these websites.

It would be more useful from my own point of view if these websites would at least offer in their emails some substantive information on policy ideas or current debates rather than the usual hot-button rants and appeals for funds.

[JimR]

Um... can we keep this in perspective? It is a clever e-mail strategy to be sure. But that's all it is. It's a clever way to ask you for money.

[Kendo Nagasaki]

The e mails you get are automated from a computer and everyone gets the same one. There is nothing personal about it.

The message is always "Send money"

I just give them an earful.

[godemsinnc]

I am more and more impressed with Chris Dodd, and I love this email approach largely because I know my contribution is not going to fund a bunch of huge envelopes stuffed with photos, calendars, etc. asking for my donation (my husband the Republican gets some remarkable mail from the Bushies and several current campaigns). Chris Dodd -- right on habeas corpus, right on the war, right on health care, and right on mail!

[JoAnnCr]

I'd rather define candidates by what they say about the issues. I want to know what changes they will make, what it will cost and how they will get legislation passed. I also want candidates who are honest and decent.

My head being satisfied, I will then vote with my heart.

[IntegrityIntact]

Hello Zack. I also got the same e-mail from Chris and had a similar warm feeling of connectiveness to him. And just like your sweet wife, I was added to his e-mail list for supporting the Return Habeas Corpus petition that, unfortunately, failed to pass thanks once again to the Masters of Obstructionism in the GOP.

I promptly sent his campaign a contribution, though I wish I was in a better position to give him more.

Chris Dodd, continues to make more and more of an impression on me. I at least hope he will be seriously considered for vice president or some other VERY HIGH position in office, as it seems the other high profile Dem Pres. candidates just have to much of an extreme advantage when it comes to funding there campaigns.

[MT3]

the day CD stands up and says we should get out of Iraq today, we should take Iran seriously and demand Israel open up to nuclear inspection and then explain what they've been doing secretly for all these years and how much are WE paying for it, I'll send him $23

[Opus007]

I think we have to start seriously looking at our second tier Democrat candidates since the top tier seems to be non committal about ending this "cash cow" war. It's a challenging thing to do since the media keeps force feeding us the top tier.

[seewhy]

one assumes that since you were a professional political email writer, you and your spouse don't read each other's email or share an account. god, i can't stand that. you think you're sending an email to someone, and then you get a reply from their spouse. gag! i know i'm off topic here but i just had to say that.

[Mariel]

Let's add Dodd to the list of those we would rather have than....

[anon004]

I also received this e-mail. I would have thought it was "cute," except for the fact that I received an e-mail from his campaign earlier in the week that was downright nasty. It ridiculed the rest of the Democratic field in some very "Rovian" ways (comments about John Edward's hair, for crying out loud). I sent a return e-mail in which I informed his campaign they would never get a dime from me. I reiterated this when I got the "23 bucks" e-mail and asked then to take me off their list. I'm sure I'm about to be "called out" for not having a sense of humor, but I just can't be amused by this.