Enough about John F. Kerry. What about his e-mail list?
The former Democratic presidential candidate built, over the course of his two-year campaign, one of the biggest e-mail lists in his party. More than 2.7 million supporters signed up to receive his campaign e-mails, which his advisers have said were critical to its fundraising success. Now, as Democrats survey the post-election landscape, some are wondering what Kerry might do with all those e-mail addresses.
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"It could be a very powerful thing," said Eli Pariser, the executive director of MoveOn.org's political action committee. "It is part of the way that online organizing is reshaping politics, because, as opposed to the boom-bust cycle of campaigns -- where you build up all this grass-roots energy and then it dissipates -- now you can keep them connected to you for cheap. It totally changes what it means to be a losing presidential candidate."
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"If the only interest in them is in tapping their wallets, they'll unsubscribe or ignore it," said MoveOn PAC's Pariser, who suggested that Kerry give his supporters plenty of opportunities to voice their opinions. "What we've found is that people are very generous, but all they ask for, really, is some respect -- that this isn't a one-way relationship, that they offer input and participation and ideas. They will put money up to have that service."
Wade said he does not know how many signed his boss's petition. But he said Kerry plans to use his list to put more muscle behind his work in the Senate. "That's an army of people you can turn to, whether it's to lobby their Congress people, to lobby the moderate Republicans . . . to deluge those offices with calls and e-mails," Wade said. "It's a grass-roots force."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A24796-2004Dec24.html