Posted on 04/04/2007 9:02:00 AM PDT by Dirtysnowbank
Edwards Provides Lesson in E-Campaigning 101
When you visit the John Edwards for President Web site, you're invited to send a sympathy note to the Edwardses. And tens of thousands of well wishers have done so since that heart-wrenching news conference two weeks ago at which Elizabeth Edwards courageously discussed her incurable cancer.
What those well wishers get in return -- e-mail messages soliciting contributions to Edwards's campaign. Visitors to the Edwards site who choose to "send a note to Elizabeth and John" are first taken to a heartfelt letter from the candidate that was written the day after he learned that his wife's cancer had returned.
Edwards thanks readers for their "prayers and wishes," vows that he and Elizabeth will "keep a positive attitude always look for the silver lining" and declares that "our campaign goes on and it goes on strongly."
Anyone who then chooses to send a note of sympathy to the Edwardses -- and, thus, provide his or her e-mail address -- automatically becomes part of the Edwards campaign's online e-mail database, a list that is crucial to any campaign's ability to raise vast amounts of money over the Internet.
If you sent a note to the Edwardses before the critical March 31 end-of-the-quarter fundraising deadline, you would have received frantic e-mail solicitations from the campaign, such as the one on March 28 from Edwards campaign manager David Bonior titled, "96 hours to show substance works." The solicitation asked for "$25, $50 or any amount you can afford to give."
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(Excerpt) Read more at blog.washingtonpost.com ...
Next they’ll imply that each dollar they get will improve E.E.’s chances of survival.
uh huh...
I understand the best place for the sending the sympathy card would be from where her supporters congregate (the campaign website) nothing wrong at all with that.
Linking it with the campaign contact collection and money solicitation is where things went wrong. I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt and assume it is a technical oversight and not intentional. Maybe they just reused the web platform and forgot it had hooks into the database which the fund-raising system also used. Or maybe it was intentional by some 17 year old web-master volunteer.
Either way someone should let the campaign know about it ASAP so there is no deniablity if they leave it that way and it blows up in their face. FOX news could have a field day w/ this.
I guess he learned this from Rick Santorum. Years ago I got a Christmas card with a card to donate to his campaign.
Evidently tackiness is bipartisan....
Check it out.
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