[FrankR]

"...frustrating to receive their patronizing emails back from Congress..."

That is very true, BUT the beauty of the CC is that if enough press gets them, soon they will start to talk about it and air it, which will embarass the congressional creeps - as they are scared to death of the media - and it'll we "we know that they know that we know that they know", etc.

It's kind of like the lawyer who usually knows the answer to the question before he asks it court.

[Albion Wilde]

the beauty of the CC is that if enough press gets them, soon they will start to talk about it and air it, which will embarass the congressional creeps -

I do have to agree that in my grad-level course on "Achieving Influence", the professor cited the use of the "cc" to as many influential people as possible when trying to bring attention to your correspondence.