The Top 10 things you NEVER want to REPEAT in a Campaign email
Dems just can’t stop shooting themselves in the foot
I have written a lot about the stumbling, bumbling actions of the Democratic Party this year. While many are focused on the radicalization of the GOP, I think it’s important that we not turn a blind eye to those we may choose to replace the Republicans.
I jumped on the Val Demings bandwagon early: I received the very first email from her campaign — the campaign announcement — from her back in June, 2021. Anyone with her background, with her political chops, had a good chance of taking down that MAGA Moron Marco Rubio in Florida. So, while I was hopeful to see her enter the arena, the campaign has been an awful mess. You can read all about that nonsense here in my extensive history of her campaign — and why I think it is a total failure, and will lead to defeat if she is the Democratic nominee.
I still like Val Demings, and think she is an incredible public servant. It’s her campaign that is an unmitigated nightmare, and today’s episode is like the finale in a long list of mistakes her campaign has made at her expense.
Mandela Barnes is currently the Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin. I don’t know anything about Mandela, and I have never contributed to his campaign, although he sends me emails — almost daily. It is my guess that the DNC provided the Barnes campaign with my email address, as I am a frequent contributor to Democratic candidates. Someone gave the Barnes campaign my email so I get a lot of emails from him too.
To be honest, I don’t spend any time reading campaign emails: my friend on here, Kathi, has told me she simply Trashes those emails, but I keep them. I actually have a folder where I have saved every email: I was curious just how many emails candidates would send over time. To date, I have received 439 emails just from the Val Demings campaign, and 2,682 emails from all other Democratic candidates: that’s over 3,000 emails, and I only started saving emails in February, 2021 — about one year ago. I don’t know about you, but that seems like an awful lot of messages that no one is reading.
I took the approach with Val, and then with Jaime Harrison, then with others in the Democratic Party that that is exactly what’s happening: supporters, like me, are not reading their emails! But writing to them — via email, snail mail, or a post here on Medium — has not resulted in any response from any candidate!
They can’t see the forest for the trees: their mass Email machine, sending emails out to would-be contributors everyday — including folks who have never heard of the candidate — will only get the message dumped in the Trash. I have asked, no begged — I have begged these Democratic candidates to start voter outreach, to begin daily Zoom sessions with voters so that we could actually connect with those running for office, so that we could share our issues that inform their future policies. But all I have ever received back from the DNC, or from Val Demings, or from Mandela Barnes, or from all of the Democrats running is…
crickets.
Not one single candidate has responded to an email, snail mail or a post here. I’ve joined Twitter, and amazingly got a response from one candidate that is running against Val Demings for the Democratic nomination in Florida: Allen Ellison.
I’ve already given to Allen’s campaign, and have been invited to his “Fridays for Florida” sessions, where voters like me get to ask questions of the candidate. Praise Jesus, there is a God!
I love that Allen is listening to his voters, his supporters, in an effort to inform his decisions going forward. It really is the only thing that makes sense, when you think about it: sending me another 439 emails that I will only chuck in the wastebasket isn't going to help his campaign. But speaking with the people will. Good job Allen.
Now here’s my beef with the Dem Email Machine (DEM for short).
DEM sends out countless emails, and supporters like me and Kathi don’t bother to read them usually. Until today, when I received an email from Val Demings and another one from Mandela Barnes just moments apart. And literally just letters apart. Let me explain.
Both of these emails came today: there are ten almost identical phrases used in them. It’s almost as if someone at the DNC copy-and-paste machine forgot that we can read!
Without further adieu…
And now, here’s the top 10 things you never want to repeat in a campaign email.
Number ten….
- “I have 15 minutes of free time this morning Timothy.” Word for word, these are identical.
Number Nine…
- “It doesn’t sound like much” versus “It may not sound like much.”
Number Eight…
- “I have been busy traveling” versus “I’ve been working long hours” sounds like they want us to know they have jobs just like the rest of us.
Number Seven…
- “I’m taking a moment to reflect” versus “I’m reflecting on this historic campaign” certainly sounds like a lot of reflection. Maybe reflect less; work more.
Number Six…
- “telling you a bit more about my decision” sounds a lot like “tell you a little bit more about my decision.” But it might just be me.
Number Five…
- “Back when I was growing up in Milwaukee” becomes “Back when I was growing up in Jacksonville.” Wow.
Number Four…
- “So I decided to run” is “So I decided to run” word for word.
Number Three…
- “Right now the polls show me tied” is “I’m two points away.” It’s always important to let the voters — who aren’t reading their emails — know how the competition with the GOP is going.
Number Two…
- “[our] race could be the one that decides the control of the Senate” sounds just as urgent as “in a race that can decide Senate control.”
And the Number One thing you never want to repeat in a campaign email:
- “If you believe in this campaign” is the same in both emails.
So Democratic candidates are sending out, on average, ten emails every day that we — the voters, their supporters — are throwing in the Trash. At the same time, we send them messages via email, snail nail and more, asking them to simply have a conversation with us, to listen for a moment to us, so they can know what we need from them if they get elected.
And neither side is listening. And that’s not sustainable.
We watch as the Republican Party turns madness into mayhem, gerrymandering districts, passing corrupt voting laws, supporting a pathological liar, all while attacking their own good shepherds, and we know we must elect more Democrats if we are to save this Union. Again.
Yet Democratic candidates and voters aren’t listening to each other: we are completely ignoring each other, and that is going to lead to the biggest collapse of democracy the world has ever seen.
We can’t simply sit here hoping Democratic candidates will win: trust me on this. If people are ignoring Democrats today, what will happen in November?
While we fight, the GOP will steal a majority in one house or both, and the Biden agenda will end — perhaps permanently. The 1/6 Committee will end abruptly; any investigations into Trump and his crooked ilk will end, and nothing Biden wants to do for America will happen. By 2024, America will be facing its end at the hands of the GOP, all because Democratic candidates and Democratic voters won’t listen to each other now.
There is no other way to say this, but Jaime Harrison either needs to wake the fuck up or get pushed out now. The strategies employed have completely broken our ability to communicate, and it is destroying our party.
Democrats beware: the end is coming. Find a new captain now, or watch this ship sink forever.
