Campaign E-Mails Are Pissing Off Donors Like Never Before, Making It Harder To Communicate

I’ve been hearing this for years but now it’s a tidal wave. Donors don’t want to contribute to candidates because they say they’re smothered in spam afterwards— not just from the candidates but from other candidates who wind up with their contact information. One donor who contributed $500, through Blue America to one of our candidates told me that if I didn’t get him to take him off his text and e-mail lists within 24 hours he would give his opponent $1,000. Another long-time donor now forces me to tell the candidates he donates to that he will give them half the contribution he planned if they promise to not put him on any lists. If they agree and comply, he’ll give them the other half of the contribution in a month. Most people just say they’re done contributing.

On top of that, most of the e-mails are absolutely horrible— just worthless spam with no heart, no soil, no spine and no brain. There’s an art to writing good donor letters and most of the comms consultants don’t have a clue. When Rahm Emanuel was chair of the DCCC her invented the term “burn the lists,” by which he meant over-use them so that no one opens them any more and fundraising goes away from the grassroots and back to the elites. He was furious because the netroots was beating his candidates.

One person who understands how to write a good e-maul and who doesn’t get comms consultants get anywhere near them is Alan Grayson. We talk about the fundraising e-mails he gets all the times. (I don’t get any because I’ve threatened to sue the companies that send them out.)

Now Alan is running for the open Osceola County state Senate district that he used to represent as part of his congressional district. He sent me an e-mail he was sending out to Democrats and independents and, like with all of his e-mails, I was very impressed. It’s about the residents of the district and what he was proposing to do for them. It wasn’t about a recipe or about a family member or some nonsense. This is what I’ve done and this is what I propose to do. Please vote for me. If you like it, you can contribute to him here or here or both.

From: Alan Grayson

Subject: Don’t Give Away Your Vote

Subheading: Your Vote is Your Power

Dear Friend,

Don’t give away your vote, for nothing.

Vote for the candidate who will make your life better.

Given what I accomplished – for you, and for all of us – in my six years in Congress, you know that I’m the candidate who has made our lives better. Here are a few examples:

• When 53% of the homes in Osceola County were falling to foreclosure, the Grayson Mandatory Mediation program cut foreclosures here in half. It was so successful that the Florida Supreme Court ordered it for all of Florida.

• When I was elected, Orlando was the largest city in America with no Veterans Hospital. I funded it in my first term, broke ground in my second term, and finished it in my third term. It serves thousands of veterans every day.

• The Grayson Amendment increased bilingual housing counseling by 50%, and I funded bilingual business classes by the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

• I brought no-down-payment, zero-percent interest mortgages to Orlando.

• Seven Orlando schools were shutting down.  I got the funding to keep them open. Kissimmee Airport was shutting down. I kept it open, and repaved the runway.

• By talking face-to-face with the Secretary of Transportation, I got Sunrail extended through Osceola County.

What you deserve, for your vote, is someone who gets good things done for you, and everyone you love.

We are all in this together.

I am a Democratic candidate for State Senate District 25. I will be on your ballot. I respectfully ask for your vote.

And when I’m in office, you’ll have a friend in the State Senate.

Courage,

Alan Grayson